


Ninja's hero

by Phantom_of_the_fanfic



Series: Shinobi and Heroes [1]
Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: BAMF Midoriya Izuku, BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, F/M, Gen, Good Uchiha Sasuke, Hope to god this works, Hopefully doesn't suck, Plz no hate, Smart Midoriya Izuku, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi Lives, Uzumaki Izuku, probably, trying new things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 30
Words: 186,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25496395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_of_the_fanfic/pseuds/Phantom_of_the_fanfic
Summary: Trying something really out there, hopefully this doesn't suck.Itachi wasn't sure how the green haired child had appeared in the forest, nor was he sure why the child had been running from a 'Katsumi' and an 'Izumi' however even without the Sharigan he could feel the chakra emanating from this child. Yet this child didn't know about the enormous power inside of them, nor of ninjutsu or anything it appeared. He was faced with two major questions though.Could he train this Midoriya Izuku?AndWhat the FUCK is a quirk?
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: Shinobi and Heroes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087079
Comments: 63
Kudos: 162





	1. A green boy in a forest/ prologue

Itachi looked left, then right, then left again. Then right one more time. He closed his eyes and sharpened his other senses, there was no sound of any movement, there was nothing for miles around. He opened his eyes, there wasn't any movement either. Hell there wasn't even a genjutsu activate on him. There was nothing around him.

Except this small child.

This small green haired child.

He was only Sasuke's age of four, Itachi couldn't really boast being an adult at nine but even so he knew a child this young shouldn't be alone anywhere, let alone a forest. Least of all the forest of _fucking death_. "Are you okay?" He asked the boy. The green haired boy seemed to wipe his face and looked up at Itachi.

"Yeah I'm fine mister, sorry for troubling you,"

"Alright now tell me the truth," Itachi pulled out his kunai and pointed it to Izuku. "Who are you?" The boy turned ghostly pale and his eyes began watering.

"I'm," He sniffed, "I'm Midoriya Izuku, please don't hurt me,"

"Why are you limping?"

"I'm,"

"Don't lie,"

"Katsumi and Izumi hurt me," The boy quietly admitted.

"How did you get here?"

"I was running away from them, because they were being mean," Itachi tensed, there _were_ people around. Resharpening his senses he tried to hear anything. But there still wasn't anything, not even a second heartbeat. But there was an overwhelming sense of chakra emanating from somwhere.

"Why were they being mean?"

"Because I want to be a hero, even though I'm a boy,"

"You mean a shinobi?"

"What's a shinobi?" Alright, not a brilliant start.

"Why can't you be a hero?" Itachi decided to press on, repressing his confusion for a moment.

"Because I'm a boy, and that means I don't have a quirk," Okay, **pause.** A quirk? Isn't that just a personality trait? Clearly this boy was either messing with him or he genuinely had these things in his village.

"What village are you from?"

"I'm not from a village, I live in Musutafu, a part of Tokyo," This kid **had** to be messing with him now. "Where am I? This isn't the forest me and Kacchan play in," The boy began getting scared.

"You are safe for the moment, do you remember how you got here?"

"I ran through the trees, it looked like a door," That meant the boy could return to this Musutafu, Tokyo area. "Are you a hero?" The sincerity gave Itachi pause.

"No, I'm not a hero, I'm an Anbu, a very powerful shinobi, why do you want to be a hero?"

"To save people like my mama! She saves everyone with a smile!" 

"Alright, so why not train to be a shinobi then? You've got a lot of chakra, more than an average person,"

"Chakra?" Itachi internally facepalmed, this kid made Sasuke looked almost gifted. "Is that a quirk?" Sensing a foothold he tried.

"Yes, it's a very common quirk in the place, almost everyone had chakra here, it lets them use ninjutsu," The forest haired boy began to sparkle.

"Can you teach me how to use it?!" Itachi thought for a moment, this boy was clearly underweight from the clothes hanging off him and injured from the burises he failed to hide.

"Very well, but I can't do it when you're like this, come, we can eat first then tend your wounds," He began leading the child.

"This is my hidden spot, it is where I come to train and rest, it is where I organize my thoughts," A small campfire was ready to burn next to a very rudimentary shelter. Izuku smiled and limped over to a log that acted as the seating by the fire. Itachi quickly weaved some signs. "Fire style: Fireball jutsu," Lifting his hand with his middle and index fingers extended to his lips. A small burst of fire ignited just above his fingers and flew to the campfire, causing it to start burning and crackling. "Alright, there's some roasted fish to eat," The smaller boy eyed to skewers resting around the fire. "Lesson number one, a shinobi can not be picky when it comes to eat, you don't know when a battle may start so you eat everything you aren't allergic to," Izuku took a fish and began eating it slowly. "You shall learn to enjoy it," Itachi shook his head as Izuku pulled many faces eating the fish. Another body soon entered the area and dropped into a fighting stance. "Shisui, stand down, he is four!" The greenette dropped the fish and began bowing in apology. His talking much faster than anyone he'd ever heard. There were glimpses of 'sorry' over and over again until Itachi stepped forwards. "Don't worry Izuku, this is Shisui my cousin,"

"Itachi, there's a massive chakra presence,"

"It's Izuku," Itachi shook his head "I've done every check I can, this child is the only thing present for miles around here,"

"Be that as it may we need to know,"

"Look at him Shisui, he's barely Sasuke's age, he's no threat to anyone, he's underweight and already bruised, the boy doesn't even know what chakra is, he thinks it's something called a quirk?"

"So you found an immensely powerful blank slate?"

"I'm not taking him to Konohagakure, not into Danzo's hands," Being an Anbu Itachi knew the dangers, being nine he was stubborn to the end. "I want to teach him, he came here running from attackers and doesn't know how to fight back," The (Barely) older boy's faced softened.

"Alright, hey Izuku was it?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going to get you patched up and we'll start teaching you ninjutsu, and some taijutsu, you want to learn?"

"Absolutely,"

"It's going to be difficult, it's going to leave you sore," Shisui warned.

"I don't mind, anything to be a hero!"

"Told you," Itachi smirked as Shisui stared completely baffled, "But it's a migraine for another day," Both nodded and chuckled before sitting either side of Izuku.

* * *

"Sensei you know I can detect you both right?" Izuku sat leaning over the cooking some fish. "I'm not as weak as I once was," That was true. In two years they'd been training Izuku had grown immensely, his taijutsu, ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu were all incredible, almost better than Itachi at his age. In fact his chakra was so large, potent and concentrated they had decided it was primal chakra, a very rare unspecialized chakra that gave Izuku an affinity for, well, ever chakra nature. Both older boys landed silently on the other side of the secret clearing. "What training are we doing this weekend?" Itachi smiled, over the last two years they'd been training every weekend and a few weekdays in an odd yearly cycle that Izuku claimed was due to Alderra elementary school. Whatever the fuck that was. During that time their relationship had grown into an almost brotherly one both of them training Izuku as best they could, both being Anbu meant Izuku was trained pretty damn well.

"This weekend we're going to be going on a little trip," Itachi offered, "You're going to become a real shinobi of the hidden leaf village,"

"Wait, we're going to Konohagakure?!" Izuku stood up, long since disappeared had the timid and shy boy replaced with a more confident humble one. "Alright!" he bumped his fist up. "Let's get moving," The three crouched before leaping into the trees. Itachi and Shisui both thought nothing of bouncing between the trees as Izuku raced just behind them, mumbling about his abilities going beyond superhuman, being faster than something called a sports car? Itachi and Shisui shared a bemused look, even after two years they still didn't have a clue about what Izuku's home world was like. They continued to bounce through the forest for a second. "Oi sensei!" Both looked back while Izuku seemed to catch up without effort and harmlessly tapped Shisui's shoulder. "Tag, you're it!" He flipped to smile brightly upside down before pushing off the next branch. Itachi leapt with more force away from Shisui as the eldest boy reached out.

"Can't catch me that easy Shisui!" Tag had been one of the games they had used to teach Izuku how to chain movements together, running up tree trunks, bouncing between branches and even substitution jutsu. Him starting a game was rare, only when he was in a fun mood. Itachi and Shisui had learned quickly how fun the game was in general. Laughter emanated from the three for the briefest of peaceful moments in the forest.

"Woah, this place is massive!" Izuku stood at entrance to the home of shinobi. "So where are we going?" The three walked harmlessly into the village. Itachi chuckled slightly as Shisui shook his head. "Come on,"

"Let's go to the park for a moment, I need to grab Sasuke," Itachi spoke levelly. Izuku had never met his younger brother but there had been conversation about the young Uchiha. The greenette admired Sasuke for drive to be a ninja like Itachi. They reached the small park and all stood at the edge. "Sasuke, come here, there's someone I want you to meet," Parents began leaving with their children slowly, each avoiding a particular blond boy in a swing. Something Izuku didn't fail to notice.

"Hey, who's that?" He pointed to the blond.

"That is," Itachi squinted and cursed silently. "Shisui. do you remember Minato?"

"Fourth yeah, why?"

"That's Naruto Uzumaki, his son," Shisui pulled away.

"And they treat him like that?" Both brewed in mild anger, something to talk to Third about. Izuku needed nothing more before calling over.

"Uzumaki!" He called out, the blond looked over to the waving boy. "Over here, come on," Slowly Naruto came over to them. "Hi, I'm Midoriya Izuku, you can call me Izuku!"

"Hey, who's this?" Sasuke complained.

"He just introduced himself Sasuke, you should listen more," Shisui scolded. "This is Midoriya Izuku, we found him a few years back and have been training him every weekend,"

"Hi Midoriya, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, you can just call me Naruto!"

"Then call me Izuku!" The greenette matched the jovial energy. "Sensei can he come with us? Please?" Itachi and Shisui nodded before the group of six began walking off. "So, Uchiha, what is Sensei like at home?"

"Lazily, just sleeps all the time, never helps me at all,"

"If you want I can help you?" Izuku offered merrily, "I mean I'm probably not as good as you but,"

"Okay! I mean getting to train with someone isn't something that happens often,"

"Naruto, you can join us too!" Both older Uchiha's paused and smiled as the blond's mood was lifted incredibly high. "Hey Sensei, can I train with these guys from now on? Pretty please?"

"Pretty please?" Shisui hummed "Well I guess so, but we need to go talk to Lord Third first,"

Minutes later the six stood in the Hokage's office while he pondered for a moment. "Midoriya?"

"Yes Lord Third," The greenette bowed "I am Midoriya Izuku, I am from a place called Musutafu, in a region called Tokyo from another world, I stumbled into your Forest of death two years ago and met Uchiha Itachi, I believe what I stepped through was a gateway of sorts, I have since trained under Itachi and Shisui Uchiha, I wish to become a shinobi of Konohagakure, I am skilled in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu, please let me join," The Third Hokage hummed for a brief moment before observing Izuku for another moment.

"Very well, we shall test you on your knowledge to see if you show promise as a Genin before we make you part of Konohagakure, is there any issues following your location?"

"No, I plan on coming into Hagakure as soon as I finish elementary school in my world, hopefully it shall only be two more years," Izuku bowed again, "Thank you for having me!"

"Thank you Lord Third!" Itachi and Shisui both bowed deeply while Sasuke and Naruto stood at the side mildly confused.

* * *

Itachi stared ahead as he heard feet approaching. Izuku stormed into the clearing, his face the picture of rage angrily growling about his stupid fucking parents. Itachi didn't say anything until Izuku saw him, the anger vanishing instantly. "Sensei, what's wrong?!" He ran over and slid across the grass to the older boy's side.

"Izuku, Shisui died, he killed himself before people could come after his Mangekyou Sharigan," A small leather pouch was pulled from Itachi's pocket, "He wanted me to give them to you, so you could guard them, are you ready to accept them?" The greenette was obviously distraught. One of his Sensei's for four years just died. Itachi bit back tears as he continued, "The Uchiha were planning a coupe, that would've killed most of the villagers," Izuku seemed to put the pieces together quickly.

"No, Sensei, no!" Itachi was enveloped in a hug,

"I couldn't kill Sasuke, please, look after him for me," Tears fell down both of their faces. "Please,"

"I swear on my ninja way to protect him as much as I can, Sensei?"

"Yes?"

"Can you implant the eyes into me please?" Izuku laid down on the log facing the sky. Itachi stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. Shisui had asked him to be strong for now, he could face the pain later. Right now his pupil needed him.

"Alright, but it's going to hurt," Pulling out a tag he prepared to knock Izuku out.

"You said that about my training, look how great I am now," Izuku chuckled before the tag struck him. Itachi began his work and opened the drawstring pouch. The process was not a long one however it was a delicate one. His body readily accepted the eyes as his own quickly and Itachi wrapped bandages over his eyes around his head. Izuku woke up not long after the procedure completed and clutched his face. "AH, fucking, ow!" His hands reached for the bandages. "Pain fades, pain fades," He repeated slowly.

"Izuku it's not,"

"I'll have to take them off eventually Sensei, so why not now?" The bandages slipped away and Izuku stared up at the bright light for a moment. "Ooh, that stings but it's fading already," Looking over at Itachi he caused the teen to gasp.

"Impossible, you're not of the Uchiha bloodline," 

"What? WHAT?" Izuku began panicking, looking around for a reflective surface. Itachi sat down numbly as he watched the frantic boy run around. No, that can't be happening. There was no way he could. Itachi snapped his head up and looked at Izuku again. Unless.

"It's your Primal chakra, it probably gives you control over the Sharigan," Itachi looked between the emerald colored orbs that now rested in the leather drawstring pouch and Izuku. The eyes of who should now be a vivid red. except they weren't anymore. Instead the eyes of Shisui Uchiha,

Were emerald green.


	2. Brothers, moving on and introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto is woken roughly to a pounding on his front door. He doesn't get visitors, even the Uchihas and Izuku don't really come to his house. That changes very quickly.

**BANG BANG BANG**

Naruto sat up quickly and looks around. That was his front door. Except that thing never has anyone.

**BANG BANG BANG**

Well it did now as Naruto quickly climbed out of his bed and ran over to the front door and yanked it open, the daylight burning his eyes. "Naruto, oh thank god you answered, we have a major problem," Izuku Midoriya, his training partner and almost brother stood frantically at the door. "Alright so I'm a shadow clone right now," Ah yes, the Kage art they'd secretly learnt last year to prove their skills as shinobi, he remembered breaking into the vault to grab the scrolls and learn them before the sun rose. Sasuke could unfortunately only do one while Naruto and Izuku could produce hundreds. Izuku had his primal chakra, giving him chakra levels way beyond anyone in Konohagakure, maybe even the shinobi world but Naruto gained no explanation for his high chakra levels yet. Grampa Third wouldn't talk just yet but Naruto was wearing him down. Just last year he got to learn his father was the fourth Hokage, it hurt, knowing his parents had died protecting the village but now he wanted to be Hokage even more. Realizing he'd zoned out he shook his head and looked at Izuku.

"Sorry what?" The shadow clone groaned.

"Alright, Itachi had to do something for the village, the elders forced his hand, to make it convincing they had to mark him as a a rogue ninja, meaning he;s going to be hunted, Sasuke's pretty shaken up about it right now, more will be explained when we get here so please, can you make tea or something?!" 

"On it," Naruto nodded as the clone dispersed in a puff of smoke. He turned to his apartment and cringed. "Shadow clone jutsu!" He called out, a small army of himself appeared. "Come on let's get this place cleared up for Izuku and Sasuke, we need it to be spotless!" His shadow clones all smirked "Got it!" His voice echoed back to him and the army began working on his apartment. Sweeping, wiping, mopping, picking up trash and taking the bins away once they were full. The process of housekeeping was practically all but painless anymore, of course he'd learn everything the clones didn't have time to reach once they were all dismissed but he could hit those spots later. Quickly his clones cleaned the floor walls and ceiling. A noise of almost silent landing at his front door and Naruto dismissed the clones as he answered the door. "Hey, hey what's going on?" He escorted Izuku and Sasuke to his sofa and walked over the the already brewed teas, placing them on a tray and carrying them back. Izuku patted Sasuke's back grimly.

"Itachi was ordered to protect the village, the elders, namely Danzo, gave him no option and they also claimed it'd help in another mission for him that he's left for right now," Izuku got up and led Naruto away from the unresponsive black haired boy. "The Uchiha's were planning a coupe that would've cost the village a lot of lives, Itachi hand to stop it, Itachi had to kill the entire clan," Naruto stepped backwards, feeling incredibly sick.

"What about Shisui?"

"He killed himself yesterday while the coupe was being planned, he knew they'd be after his Mangekyou Sharigans, so he gave them to Itachi to safeguard until I came back this morning,"

"And what? Do you have them?" He looked Izuku in the eye, they were still the same emerald. "Holy shit!" Naruto whisper shouted as Izuku's eyes turned a powerful red. "You mean,"

"Yes, Shisui wanted me to have his eyes to guard them, my primal chakra gives me the ability to actually control them, I don't believe it just yet either but that's what's happening,"

"So what next?"

"Well, I don't have to go back home until I'm eighteen for university, that means I can just stay in Konohagakure if I want to," Izuku pondered, "That means I have eleven years here to train and figure out what the fuck is at play here," The two returned to Sasuke's side. "Hey, you feeling better?"

"He killed my family, _our_ family, he killed the entire clan!" Sasuke clenched his cup tightly. "Why, why would he do that?"

"Because Danzo left no other options, Itachi had to decide between the village or the clan I'm guessing, either way he'd be a rogue ninja and have to leave Konoha, this way cost the least lives, I'm sorry Sasuke, I really am, we're both here if you need to talk," Izuku hugged the last Uchiha. The black haired boy began crying. Naruto clenched his fists, what happened next could wait a moment. 

"We need to see Grampa Third," He growled. Izuku took a hand away from Sasuke to hold up a thumb while the crying boy just nodded numbly, "But let's just collect ourselves for a minute," As if that was going to happen.

The doors were blown down with a synchronous cry from three voices. "SARUTOBII!!!" The Third Hokage sat in his office, Anbu already appearing to protect him. Izuku, Naruto and Sasuke stood at the remains of the door. Naruto lowered his foot from the place the door had stood. "You are going to explain yourself right,"

"The Hokage does not need," An Anbu began.

"He _does_ Owl, when it involves a massive chakra source hidden in Naruto and Itachi Uchiha, one of the best shinobi of our time, being forced to kill his clan and become a rogue ninja," Izuku growled backing up Naruto, Sasuke stared angrily ready to fight. Anger rolled off the three, readying to fight properly. "The three of us were trained by him and Shisui Uchiha, who killed himself just yesterday to prevent the Uchiha getting hold of his Mangekyou Sharingans," Naruto felt anger bubble.

"One reason why we should be patient about this and not beat the answers out of you _Third_ ," A second Anbu scoffed.

"You challenge the Third Hokage?"

"He needs you lot to protect him in his office, Panda, or did you want me to kick your ass _again_?" Izuku referred to the time he had fought the Anbu as a test of his abilities two years ago, when he'd beaten four of them at once. Naruto remembered watching. It had been hilarious entertainment but must've been tiring. The blond fought to keep his anger from overtaking him.

"Sarutoi Hiruzen, you have this chance to explain right now, before I lose it," The Anbu all reached for their weapons.

"Very well, you are aware of who your parents were?"

"Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, yes I'm very well aware, keep going,"

"Well they died on your birthday, the day the night the nine-tails attacked the village," Something burned in Naruto's chest. "To stop the attack, they sealed the nine-tails away, inside of you,"

Silence.

"Bullshit," Naruto growled "There's no way,"

"It does explain your higher chakra, if you have a tailed beast inside of you, more so if it is the nine-tails," Izuku put a hand on his shoulder "That doesn't answer why you let Danzo force Itachi to kill the Uchihas and leave Sasuke the sole survivor, while his beloved older brother was forced to flee," Third bowed his head.

"That is something too late to rectify, I am sorry Sasuke, but Danzo acted before I could intervene, I wished it didn't have to come to this but Itachi was about to undergo a secret mission for me anyway,"

"Explain, now,"

"Itachi heard rumors of a group hunting down the tailed beasts, obviously we do not know if they have any just yet, but he is going undercover to sabotage any missions if possible, I hope this is answer enough,"

"You have a lot to make up for Grampa Third," Naruto stepped forwards, "Lying to me, letting them attack me like they did, not giving me any answers until we came here planning to fight you, remind me, why were you made Hokage again?" Anbu made a move. 

"Mutli shadow clone jutsu!" Izuku's voice cried out as something collided with Naruto's temple.

He was laying down in an empty space. A thin layer of water covered the flat ground around him. Naruto sat up and looked around, it was darkness almost immediately. Except in front of him. There stood a large stone gate, with a sealing tag down the centre of it. That, of course, meant it was about four stories above Naruto's head. He looked behind the gate to see a large orange fox sat the other side. **"So you finally came here,"**

"You're the nine tails!" Naruto shouted taking a step backwards, "You're massive!"

**"I'm the nine tailed beast, of course I'm going to be larger than some kit,"**

"Why did you attack the village?"

**"Yes that did happen, because an Uchiha or at least someone possessing the Mangekyou Sharigan forced me to do it, I was housed in your mother before that night, the prick you used me to attack the leaf village was able to interrupt the ceremony used to keep me sealed away during your birth,"**

"YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!!"

 **"An act I had no control over, but I should've Kushina was one of the first to treat me with kindness, asking me to be patient instead of forcing me down, I truly regret not being able to break out of the hold before she was killed by my claw, your father too, I did not mean to take parents from their infant kit,"** Naruto could see the regret in the beast's face.

"What's your name?"

"Me? I am simply Kyuubi,"

"Now tell me the truth," Naruto folded his arms, "Don't be shy, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, you can call me Naruto but only if you tell me your name,"

**"Very well Naruto, I am Kurama, it is nice to finally talk to you, being trapped with just my thoughts was getting torturous,"**

"Alright Kurama, I can see a lot of anger in you, even if you are being patient," He grinned, "Don't worry I'm angry too, would you like to talk about it?" Kurama paused, his eyes widening in shock for a moment.

**"Talk, about it?"**

"Yeah, like why are you angry? What did people do that made you cross?"

**"Being sealed away in an infant it not fun, but that's not a big deal anymore,"**

"Yeah, I didn't know you were sealed inside of me until about three minutes ago, I had to threaten to beat Gramps to finally get the answers as to why my chakra is so strong,"

 **"You haven't tapped into my chakra yet,"** Kurama grunted **"You are an Uzumaki, they were famed for having higher chakra than normal,"** He felt a twitch.

"Oh, really? One more thign to beat Grampa Third over,"

**"Third but you are the son of the Fourth aren't you?"**

"Yeah,"

**"So shouldn't you be on the Fifth,"**

"I don't know either, I'm only seven Kurama, I don't get a lot of things,"

**"But you are smart, you were trained by two Anbu,"**

"Yes but there's still things I don't understand," Naruto raised his arms, "Is there anything else you are angry about?"

 **"I was always repressed by previous Jinchurikis, feared by shinobi across the world, they never thought I could be of help, always a burden,"** He frowned to Kurama.

"Well that's not fair," Naruto shook his head and put a fist through the gap in the gate. "Well I won't try keep you down, if you want to help I'll happily take it," Kurama stared at his fist. "It's a fist bump, come on, you don't know what that it?" Kurama shook his head, "Alright, make a fist and gently bump it against mine," The giant fox curiously did the same and bumped Naruto's fist. "Alright! That means we're friends now!" Naruto cheered before looking around "Izuku and Sasuke are probably worried about me right now, how do I leave?"

**"Just close your eyes kit, you'll be able to come and go as you wish now you've come here once,"**

"Alright Kurama, I'll be back soon!" Naruto closed his eyes and fell forwards.

Only to sit up and smack heads with Izuku. "Ow!" Both boys recoiled and rubbed their foreheads. "Why were you so close?"

"Because you were talking in your sleep," The greenette countered. "Wasn't he Sasuke?"

"You were," The lone Uchiha nodded "We dealt with the Anbu," Naruto looked around to see the shinobi all tending wounds, several cuts and a large amount of bruising. Izuku grinned. "Anyway Izuku didn't you have one more thing to add?" Sasuke stood up the other side of the greenette as the boy in question hauled Naruto to his feet.

"Yes I did actually," Naruto watched him confidently walk up to Third and extract a piece of paper before placing it on the desk. "I wish to become an Uzumaki," The blond paused, Izuku, wanted to join his family? "I want to be part of the Uzumaki clan, because my old family wants nothing to do with me and I don't want anything to do with them, I wish to lose the Midoriya name and become Uzumaki Izuku,"

 **'It appears we will not be alone any longer'** Kurama's voice echoed in his head. Naruto felt his stomach doing flips of joy. The blond turned to Sasuke.

"Hey, maybe one day you can join our clan too?" Sasuke visibly flinched.

"Maybe someday Naruto, but right now it's a bit too soon," Izuku shook his head, "He just lost everyone, except us, let's give him time to adjust,"

"Right, sorry Sasuke, I don't want to upset you,"

"It's fine Naruto, I know you didn't mean anything hurtful," Sasuke smiled as he shook his head "I'm just going to need some time,"

"Well I suppose I should get to the paperwork but officially you are now Uzumaki Izuku, citizen of Konohagakure, welcome to the village,"

"ALRIGHT!" Izuku pumped a fist. Naruto laughed as he draped an arm around his and Sasuke's shoulders, "Let's go dopes, we don't need anything else right now," Even Sasuke cracked a smile as the childish antics overtook him too. "Where should we head for some lunch?"

"Ichiraku," Naruto offered up, Izuku nodded.

"No, come on, not ramen," Sasuke complained. Izuku and Naruto both stared.

"I-chi-ra-ku, I-chi-ra-ku," The two began chanting "I-CHI-ra-ku, I-CHI-RA-ku, I-CHI-RA-KU!" 

"Fine," Sasuke relented, much to the other two's joy.

"RAMEN!" Naruto cried boisterously, ignoring the looks of disgust and hatred he got from the other villagers. What did he care anymore? 

He had a brother.

* * *

"Hey Izuku, what happened with your old family?" Naruto asked as the three readied for bed. Izuku had moved in as he was an Uzumaki now and Sasuke was bunking for safety and in case he had some nightmares. Izuku was readying the two futons for them. "I mean you seem like a pretty awesome brother so far," Izuku sighed.

"They were, not nice, neither of my moms really gave me that much attention, my twin sister constantly harassed me, her best friend joined in, my only friend was her twin brother, a boy I call Kacchan, and until I go back for university, I won't be strong enough to protect him and all the other boys that are hurt, when I was four I learnt that people are not created equal, it was shortly after that I met Itachi, ever since I was training and learning with him, my life got so much better with him," He paused "My family never noticed or cared that I was missing over the weekends, there never was any panic,"

"What happened?"

"This morning my blond mom was angry that I fought my sister's friend, completely ignoring the fact I was just defending myself,"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, and she's supposed to be the number one hero, the most awesome person, that protects everyone," Izuku frowned, "Guess she only really protects women,"

"She sounds like a meanie," Naruto growled. He could feel Kurama's anger as well.

"Yeah but when I go back I'll be able to kick her butt and be a hero! Then I'll protect everyone, even the men!"

"Yeah!" Naruto offered a fist.

"You wanted to become Hokage right?"

"Not just the Hokage, I'm gonna be the best Hokage ever, believe it!" The boys bumped fists again. "So are you gonna be in our class?"

"Most likely, we can be a trio with Sasuke!" They grinned.

"What about me?" The boy in question stepped through the door, a small bag over his shoulder "Sorry I went back to the compound to grab a few of the things I still wanted,"

"We're just saying how we're going to be a team!" Izuku offered the boy his other fist. "You in?"

"You know it!" Sasuke bumped his fist. "So what's happening next?"

"We go to school," Naruto shrugged "Like what else, we can't go on missions before we have a senior Jounin,"

"But the three of us have already skipped all of that!" Sasuke complained. Naruto nodded.

**'He is right kit, you three are stronger than others but you are still kits, upon graduating the academy I have no doubt you will become Jounin'**

'Thanks Kurama' Naruto was grateful for the support of his new nine-tailed friend. "I get it Sasuke, but we are still academy age, we'll be actual Jounin," He grinned "But for now we can just be boys, right?"

"Alright dope," They also bumped fists "And now we've all bumped fists, what are we doing?" He chuckled as the boys stood in a triangle with their arms all stretched out. The other two proceeded to also begin laughing. They kept laughing until growling filled the air. "Actually, what's for dinner? I don't want ramen again,"

"Katsudon? It's a dish I used to have a lot? I think I can cook it," Izuku offered.

"Let's get cooking," Naruto patted his stomach. The trio left the bedroom set for the kitchen.

* * *

"Since you've all finished the academy, you are being split up into teams, your Jounin leaders will be here to collect the three of you, Uzumaki,"

"Yes?"/Yeah?" Both Izuku and Naruto lazily raised a hand.

"Since we have an extra student, you two will be on the same team in a team of four, got it?"

"Yeah yeah," / "Whatever," Both boys responded. Izuku stood up "Can you tell us who our Jounin is so we know who to look out for Iruka sensei?"

"Nope," The Jounin teacher, now identified as Iruka smirked.

"Hardass," Izuku flopped down into his seat. The whole class were gazing at the brothers with anger and resentment. Except of course, Sasuke Uchiha, who was sat pretending to think while trying hard not to laugh. After Izuku became an Uzumaki the trio had developed a plan to try and get them into the same team. Naruto and Izuku were the lazy jokers of the class, having fun and not really trying but succeeding regardless, while Sasuke was pretending to be a strong loner. His fake attitude was one of working hard and fighting harder. They had several pre-planned clashes to really make the class not relate them in anyway. Each time a Jounin arrived another three students left with a smug smile to Izuku and Naruto, who were pretending to nap. Sasuke was tempted to do the same, Naruto slyly looked over at him and lifted to fingers in salute. Sasuke sighed and kicked his feet up on the desk, spinning a kunai between his fingers. Sitting up straight Naruto stretched his arms. 

"Yo bro," He shook Izuku,

"Hm, huh? I'm up,"

"I think it's time we did the seals,"

"Dude, fuck off, I was sleeping," He yawned and stretched widely. Izuku did have a tendency to actually zone out and fall asleep, probably because he was always up late analyzing the world around him, from Ninjutsu and Genjutsu to Taijutsu and weapon arts. 

"No seriously, come on, it's better late than never,"

"A shinobi should never be late," Izuku snarkly remark died in his throat as he paused and began glaring, "I hate you,"

"Love you too bro, come on, seal time," The greenette suddenly flopped backwards and clapped his hands together wildly while barking. The class let out a small laugh at his antics before he adjusted his position. "Just sit still," Naruto put his hand on Izuku's shoulder and focused. 

'Kurama, can you help me quick, I just wanna be sure I get this right,'

**'You do not need my chakra but I can make sure that you do not make any mistakes,'**

'Thanks Kurama.' His hand warmed slightly as the chakra focused onto Izuku's skin. As his hand pulled away a small series of black symbols appeared before fading almost instantly.

"Alright my turn," Naruto sat still while Izuku put a hand on his shoulder now and closed his eyes. Izuku didn't have anyone like Kurama so he had to be careful and make sure it was right. His skin prickled a bit as the sealing took place but soon enough it was done. "Awesome," He felt the chakra marker fade into his skin. The class stared at them in surprise before their other Jounin arrived. Naruto and Izuku ended up folding a paper sheet into a triangle and playing paper football. A game Izuku had actually introduced to him and Sasuke. "Oi, Sasuke, care to play?" Naruto called over, completely ignoring the other person in the room.

"Eh sure, we got time before the Jounin arrives," He got up and sat in the chair in front of Naruto's desk. The three began playing until Izuku coughed.

"It appears Haruno Sakura is our fourth member," Casually flicking the paper to her desk.

"WHAT?!" The pink haired girl cried out. "HOW ARE YOU THREE GETTING ALONG, YOU HATE THOSE TWO,"

"A deception to be put on the same team, we hid to get what we want," Naruto shrugged, "You seriously never doubted why any of us ended unharmed in our fights,"

"Except for that one time you scratched my face with your nail," Sasuke tacked on,

"Or the time Sasuke kicked me in the nuts," Izuku murmured, the three boys all cringed for a second before Sasuke pulled out another piece of paper and began folding it into a triangle

"But yeah, Sasuke is a brother to us, we live together, ever since Izuku joined the Uzumaki clan and Sasuke, lost his," The scar was still there and it still hurt but Sasuke shook his head.

"Yeah it happened, Danzo hasn't stepped foot in the village since, in fact his entire agency disappeared after that day, lucky for him I'm not allowed to hunt him down just yet," Izuku chopped his head.

"Sasuke, no, we'll go after him as a team, remember? You haven't been alone once,"

"Yeah, yeah, strength with you two means strength in myself," Sasuke groaned "Anywho, have you figured out who our Senior is yet?"

"Don't you mean Jounin Sasuke?"

"No, he means Senior, the three of us are effectively Jounin already," Izuku caught the paper before it flew past his head, resetting it on the table, "But we're not allowed to become Jounin or Anbu yet since the last time that happened the kid was forced to do something traumatic,"

"I supposed Grampa Third is good for something after all," Naruto grunted, annoyance in his chest. "Anyway, Izuku?"

"Oh yeah, I figured out it's a Jounin known for being late," He sighed "All the other known Jounin sensei's have already taken their teams, so we're gonna be team seven with," The door slid open.

"Yo, I'm Kakashi Hatake, your Jounin cap-," A kunai thudded into the doorway either side of his head and a third just above his hair.

"You're late," Izuku growled,

"Some captain," Sasuke huffed

"A good shinobi is never late," Naruto finished. The three boys all stood up. "Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage," He bowed.

"Uchiha Sasuke, sole survivor of the Uchiha clan," Sasuke followed suit

"Uzumaki Izuku, Primal chakra user, adopted brother of Uzumaki Naruto," The greenette rounded off and the three stood up.

"We're very good at Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Shurkinjutsu already, we were trained by Shisui and Itachi Uchiha for two years, my and Izuku's Genjutsu is limited at the moment," Naruto stared at Kakashi, "We've been training since we were six, Izuku since he was four, we're already Jounin but we need to get to the Chuunin exams for it to be official," Sakura stood on Sasuke's other side, hurriedly bowing.

"Haruno Sakura, I don't have anything big to say like them, please take care of me!"

"Alright, you four are going to meet me tomorrow for training, meet me at seven, don't be late on, and it's probably best if you don't eat breakfast," Sakura was the only one that paled or even seemed surprised. "See ya," He disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves. Izuku folded his arms and clicked his tongue.

"Hardass," Sasuke nodded in agreement. Naruto tilted his head and frowned deciding on a better description.

"Jackass," The three boys disappeared in a shimmer of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so general consensus is to keep this up but I feel I should warn you, this is going to be focusing on the way Izuku's presence impacts the Naruto timeline and characters.   
> I plan on following up the BNHA universe side once this story has wrapped up to keep the timeline and events in order. Hopefully though you enjoy this story regardless. Ninja! Izuku has been something I've been interested in for a while and I've actually planned this one out as best I can.  
> so, yeah.  
> Enjoy my drabbles, leave comments if you wanna and be good to yourselves.
> 
> This is Phantom fading out


	3. Bell training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi wants to test team seven.  
> Naruto gets to boast.  
> Sakura learns something.  
> Izuku doesn't want to get serious.  
> Sasuke is ready to help him.

"WHY ARE YOU THREE EATING?!" Sakura cried. Naruto finished his protein bar to answer.

"Because we aren't falling for his shit," Izuku chopped the back of his head.

"Language,"

"And we know he's going to be late again, meaning we're going to be hungry, hell we even packed lunch in case he's incredibly seriously late," Digging a hand into his pocket the blond through a protein bar to Sakura. "Eat it, you're going to need your strength," The pinkette just stared at him "Just eat it," He waved a hand "You didn't eat breakfast, we had it two hours ago, this is just a top up, put something in your stomach or you going to be hungry,"

"Thank you," She nodded. Izuku stretched. He gripped his trousers and pulled them up slightly before lowering himself into push ups. "Um what is he?" Sasuke quickly rested his ankles on Izuku's shoulders while holding onto the greenette's ankles in a push up position himself. "Why are they?" Naruto stood behind the pair before planting his hands on Sasuke's back and starting vertical push ups. "Okay what the hell?"

"Exercise, Izuku needs the extra weight to actually gain progress, Sasuke wants to challenge himself, I'm working on my balance," The three all compressed their arms at once. Naruto felt himself lower than he should've naturally and wobbled forwards slightly.

"Don't worry Naruto, you're still up straight," Izuku grunted, "Jesus you two, did you have midnight snacks or something, you're heavier that Shisui and Itachi were," Naruto watched Sasuke paused to kick Izuku's head. "Alright, I'm sorry," Sakura giggled from the sidelines.

"Hey, Sakura, can you do ten push ups?" Naruto challenged, lifting his head.

"What, why?"

"Well a kunoichi is still a shinobi and you are a kunoichi correct?" Izuku fell into a pace with the other boys on top of him.

"Yeah,"

"That means you gotta be strong, so do ten push ups," Naruto grinned to her "Come on, you can do it right?"

"Easy, watch me," She dropped into a position next to Izuku. The three watched her do a single push up as her arms began wobbling.

"And that is why you don't skip breakfast," Sasuke tutted.

"I'm going to one arm," Izuku warned as he suddenly lurched upwards, Naruto leant towards his head to keep his balance as the greenette fell back down. His free hand began pointing to Sakura's form.

"Your back isn't straight," Naruto picked up on the indication. "Your hands are too far apart, feet together, there you go, try again," She did another push up with less shaking. "Form is everything," 

"Izuku can you go to one leg?"

"I'll go back down to two arms, watch out," The process was quick, Izuku dropped his arm back to the floor and Sasuke suddenly kicked off the greenette's heels, the blond wobbled again for a second before Izuku crossed his ankles to give Sasuke a centre point for his one arm push ups. "Anyway, Naruto, continue,"

"Yeah, form is everything Sakura, shifting your weight slightly can cause a branch to break if you're standing wrong, it's a basic in fighting, training and moving," Naruto grinned as he kept lifting himself up on Sasuke's back. "You've done four so far, that's not too bad," He supported her as much as he could, "Izuku could barely do two when he started,"

"I was malnourished and bruised something chronic, don't drag me into this," The greenette challenged from the bottom.

"But you are making good progress, just pace yourself alright? Try and do all ten quickly and you'll never get to eleven," The three watched her again settle into a slow rhythm. "You're doing great but you can do more than ten right?"

"Why should I listen to you Naruto? You just messed about in class,"

"Yet here the three of us are, proving to have more dedication that anyone else in the class," Continued with their workout for another moment. Sakura seemed to silently ponder while she continued push ups.

* * *

Kakashi finally landed in the training field at noon. Izuku and Sasuke had kept on their workout while Naruto had rolled from Sasuke to help Sakura. "Just one more, come one Sakura," He was currently applying his weight to her feet, forcing her to try and sit up straight with her core. "You've got to fourteen, just one more and we'll be at fifteen,"

"Shut up Naruto, I can do this!" She lifted herself one more time, a bead of sweat down her head. "Fifteen, I did it!" Her energy seemed to recover until she tried getting to her feet. "Wow, I'm hungry,"

"Good, that's what I was hoping for when I said don't eat breakfast," Kakashi smiled and closed his one showing eye. Izuku and Sasuke stopped exercising and joined the other two in facing Kakashi. "Alright now your exercise commences," He held up three bells, "Whoever has a bell by the end gets lunch, only limit is you have to take it in an hour!" Naruto led the charge, running in trademark shinobi style. Izuku and Sasuke were close on his heels. The blond leapt up to kick at Kakashi's head, it was blocked with a forearm, Izuku jumped up the other side, Kakashi know had both arms up while Sasuke suddenly hit the ground and slid to take Kakashi's feet out from under him. He lifted one foot pushed the two kicking boys away. As he fell backwards he quickly flipped to land and rush forwards. Izuku led this time, rushing to meet him directly. Kakashi tried to deflect as many attacks as possible while also lashing out to Sasuke as he reached for the bells. The Uchiha grunted as the foot landed in his stomach and he rolled backwards into a tree. Little did the grey haired Jounin realize that Naruto had come from another direction and pulled out a kunai. The bells jingled as they fell for a second. Kakashi kicked Izuku away to twist and catch the bells. Completing his spin Kakashi faced Naruto and Izuku down. Sasuke charged behind him and threw a blunt kunai. He moved out of the way as Izuku and Naruto charged him together. He used one arm for each boy after avoiding Sasuke entirely.

"Sasuke!" Izuku called out, a bell threw from the greenette to Sasuke. "Keep it away from him,"

"Got it!" He nodded and darted to the trees. Naruto took the moment to snatch the second bell and throw it away to Sakura, who fumbled with it for a second and clutched it to her chest.

"And that's the second one, just one left," The two boys bumped forearms as Kakashi lashed out. Izuku jumped away as Naruto began deflecting the attacks. "Izuku, take the weights off,"

"Just what I was thinking," Some heavy thuds and Izuku was back in the action, moving with more speed and power while Naruto leapt away. He rolled up his sleeves and revealed a some weights around his forearms, quickly unstrapping them he watched them hit the floor kicking up some dirt. Both boys moved back to fight Kakashi ready to take the last bell. "Want to try the robin?"

"Oh you know it, you keep up," Naruto watched as Izuku kept pushing Kakashi back. The second there was an opening the boys instantly swapped positions.

"ROUND ROBIN JUTSU!" They yelled in synchrony. So it began. Naruto kicked Kakashi's arm away and landed to punch his gut, he instantly teleported several feet away while Izuku unleashed a powerful roundhouse kick into Kakashi's side. As Naruto began moving towards Kakashi they swapped positions again and Naruto snatched the third bell out of the air. Izuku took his place with a flying kick to Kakashi's chest, Naruto flipped into an axe kick to his head. Izuku gripped his shoulders and weighed him down. Sakura and Sasuke began making their way over. Sakura clutched hers in both hands while Sasuke was twirling the string from a closed fist and Naruto dangled his from between his fingers.

"It's over Sensei, we win," Izuku flipped off the Jounin and stood at the front of the small diagonal line. Naruto felt something akin to pride bubble in his chest.

 **'That kit, he will push you further than anyone,'** Kurama mused. Naruto silently agreed with the nine-tailed fox.

"Mission accomplished," Sasuke grinned.

"Wonderful," Kakashi began standing up. "Sasuke, Naruto, Izuku, you guys get lunch," The three boys frowned.

"You weren't supposed to say that," Naruto glared.

"Sakura wasn't supposed to stand by, that's how," 

"Be that as it may Kakashi, but she caught and guarded the second bell, not to mention the three of us rushed forwards because we had already formed a plan, Sakura was going to be our support, luckily we didn't need her before she gets to our level," Izuku interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "You may be former Anbu Kakashi but we were trained by two Anbu, like it or not we are closer to your level than Sakura is to ours," His words clearly bothered the silver haired man who twitched slightly.

"You are still children, I will not be,"

"You joined Anbu at our age, Sarutobi already said no to that since last time it happened Itachi was forced to do what he did," Sasuke growled "So either accept it or go back to being a spy in Root,"

"How do you?"

"Hokage's office needs better security," Naruto rubbed his fingernails on his jacket.

"YOU BROKE INTO THE HOKAGE'S OFFICE?!"

"Well duh, what else can we do on a Sunday afternoon?"

* * *

"You two just had to boast," Izuku groaned as they stood in front of the Third Hokage's empty chair. "Just couldn't help yourselves could you?"

"If he ain't ready to see us as the shinobi we are then fuck him," Sasuke flopped into a chair while they waited, "Shinobi are supposed to be punctual, the Kage most of all,"

"He's been stood outside the door for the past five minutes," Izuku rubbed the bridge of his nose as he also sat down. "I can sense his chakra from a mile away, I just want to know,"

"Why you hiding Grampa Third?" Naruto poked his head from the door to see the Third Hokage stood with his pipe just shy of the door. "We ain't gonna do anything,"

"And yet I heard you have broken into my office,"

"That was last Sunday Third," Sasuke hummed. The Third Hokage moved into his office and closed the door behind him. He moved around to sit in his chair.

"You boys, why is it always something you three do?" Naruto found himself sitting in the chair on Izuku's other side.

"Well," Izuku rested his cheek on his fist, while leaning on the side of his chair, "We just want to see you Grampa," A small chuckle.

"You boys know I should be punishing you for breaking in, you demonstrated the ability to use the Round Robin Jutsu, that was a theoretical jutsu made by Minato in case he had a partner in missions that could keep up with him,"

"It isn't hard," Naruto shrugged "We just mark each other and teleport to each other at the same time, the chakra marker obviously moved too quickly for us to change targets so we end up taking each others place,"

"You're confident now Naruto,"

"Yeah, guess not being shunned by people helps with self-esteem," His snide remark caused the Third pause. "You saw it and yet you did nothing about it, listen Third, you were made Kage because the village trusts you, but right now, the three of us do not trust you," His arms folded.

"You respect you, your abilities speak for themselves but your character," Izuku tilted his head side to side, "We don't know if you're with us or against us,"

"You forced all three of us through the academy even though we don't actually need it," Sasuke tacked on, "And now we're stuck with a Jounin captain that doesn't acknowledge out skills,"

"The academy was for your social skills, the Jounin is because there are still things he can teach you,"

"Things we can't find in the catacombs? Unlikely," Izuku remarked, "For example, Kakashi's Chidori that he developed, records of it are in the catacombs, Sasuke already started learning it shortly before graduation, Naruto is learning his fathers Rasengan," Both boys in question held up their hand, Naruto his left, Sasuke his right. A sky blue orb appeared above Naruto's open hand while Sasuke's flat palm became covered in lighting.

"And you young Izuku?" The greenette held up both hands.

"I got both," He smirked. Naruto was impressed at the start but now he wanted to learn the Chidori, much like Sasuke wanted to learn the Rasengan. "I cover them both, so I need to know both of their skill sets," His Chidori coated hand slid past the Rasengan "And after a few hours of analysis and an afternoon of failures, I succeeded where Kakashi failed," The lightning took from his hand and began whirling around the blue orb. "Rasengan, lighting style, or just the Rasendori," The Third Hokage stared in shock. "There's no Ninjutsu the catacombs doesn't contain, hell even Guy's leaf hurricane and eight gates are in there,"

"And you shouldn't be in there,"

"Well," Sasuke sucked on his teeth, "Our shadow clones are in there right now, so uh," Izuku and Naruto grinned at the Third Hokage. The old shinobi simply sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

"Fine, fine, fine, alright, look I don't wish to see the last Uchiha die, nor do I wish to lose the Kyuubi jinchuriki,"

"His name is Kurama and I'm Naruto,"

"Or the first Primal chakra user in centuries,"

"Uzumaki Izuku, get it right Third,"

"So I do not want to send you out into the field, shinobi have been studying longer than you,"

"But have they studied harder than us?" Izuku interrupted, "No hear me out here, we have a shadow clone in the catacombs at all times, at the end of everyday they dispel and send us the knowledge, morning comes and we send a shadow clone again, rinse and repeat," Third Hokage just stared again before grumbling. The greenette simply stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, leaning against it with his arms folded.

"Very well, you seem to desire this above all else, so I shall see you become Jounin by the end of the week, your test will be the mission I'm putting team seven on, it's an escort mission rank-c, since you want to prove your abilities, you will be escorting Tazuna a bridge builder, back to the Land of Waves, you shall head off at the beginning of next week,"

"Finally," Naruto boasted "Something we can do,"

"Don't get arrogant Naruto," Kakashi's voice broke the calm.

"Alright Kakashi," Izuku eyed him, "I do not wish to boast but we matched you in ability during your little bell training exercise didn't we? Have confidence in us as we have for you," Naruto snapped his fingers as he stood up.

"That reminds me," He put a hand to Sasuke's shoulder, his palm warmed up slightly as Izuku made eye contact. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know," The greenette walked over to Kakashi and rested a hand on his back, "Sakura, go take a seat," The pinkette moved from behind the Jounin and bowed.

"Lord Third,"

"It is alright Haruno, I am well acquainted with the boys on your team, they are a troublesome bunch,"

"But you do things so _slowly_ ," Sasuke complained as Naruto lifted his hand away. "It permanent?"

"Unless I put the marker somewhere else, yes," The blond's hand rested on Sakura's shoulder as Izuku moved to Sasuke.

"What are you guys doing?" Sakura looked up at Naruto.

"Remember how Izuku and I kept swapping places while fighting Kakashi?" She nodded "Well we each out our marker on each other, it allows us to almost teleport to the marker from anywhere, my dad used and developed it, the original art was made by the Second Hokage, we're developing it to be faster as well but it requires chakra levels only an Uzumaki has," He moved to Kakashi while his brother moved to Sakura. "By putting our markers on each of you we can move between you three instantly, or as close as instantly as we can get,"

"Who was your dad?" Sakura asked innocently. Naruto lowered his head slightly.

"Minato Namikazi, the Fourth Hokage, died protecting the village on my first birthday,"

"Your first birthday, why don't,"

"Not his first birthday Sakura," Izuku took over, "As in the literal day he was born, his mother died in the same incident too, a man had used a Mangekyou Sharigan to control the nine-tails and made it attack the village,"

"Izuku, this is highly classified,"

"If we are to operate as a team, she needs to know everything Sarutobi, not that you'd understand with all the secrets you keep," Izuku bit back, "To end the attack, Lord Fourth sealed the nine-tails," Naruto coughed, "Sorry, he sealed _Kurama_ inside Naruto, the two have been able to communicate for several years now after Anbu knocked him out when we came for answers, you didn't hear about us coming for answers because Sasuke and I beat the Anbu," Naruto could feel Sakura's eyes on him. "You didn't hear about the attack because Third, in all of his wisdom, prevented anyone from ever talking about it," Naruto pulled his hand away from Kakashi and slumped into his seat. "Really a genius move on his part," His voice was laced with sarcasm and spite. "So Naruto was shut off from literally everyone," He felt the greenette stand behind him. "Until Sasuke and I came along after I saw him in the park one day and Itachi told me the story of who he was,"

"Itachi was,"

"An Anbu and didn't really care about what you said, he saw Naruto's treatment as a problem since he is literally your best weapon against anything, even other jinchuriki," Izuku's hand rested on Naruto's shoulder "More over Itachi couldn't stand by as a _child_ was treated so disgustingly, had I been able to truly understand what you did Sarutobi, I would've ripped you limb from limb for your sheer idiocy,"

"UZUMAKI IZUKU!" Kakashi yelled "That is Lord Third Hokage!"

"I know," Izuku's hand tightened on Naruto's shoulder. "But I really don't care," His voice was further away. Naruto whipped his head around to see a shadow clone at Kakashi's back with a blade to his throat. "You see, I've had experience with bullies, those who spit down at you, I didn't like it, so I'm not fond of people who knowingly chose to put an infant in that position," His shadow clone growled, "So Kakashi _sensei_ yes he is the Third Hokage, but that does not mean shit to a boy from another world, in my world he'd be classified as a villain, because he's used his power to cause suffering to another," The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke and Izuku had remained facing Third Hokage. "So by all means, test my patience right now," Something rolled off of Izuku, something that wasn't murderous intent, more indifference. As if he was emanating that he didn't care if he had to kill you or not. Somehow that was even scarier than when he displayed his murderous intent. Naruto was suddenly glad to have his brother as his brother instead of an enemy.

"You are a member of Konohagakure, so you will act accordingly," Kakashi barked.

"Is that what you though when you killed her Hatake?" Izuku snarled without looking back, "Or when you let him go Sarutobi?" Silence. Naruto looked to his green haired brother, a fierce fire in his eyes. For the first time in a while Naruto felt fully _protected_. He knew Izuku would go down swinging to defend him. "Neither of you are perfect either, I suggest you get off your high horses before I kick you off them," 

"You are arrogant Uzumaki," 

"No, I am confident, we didn't take off all our weights to fight you and I do not wish to go through putting them all back on in a few seconds," Naruto stood up with Sasuke as Izuku turned to face the Jounin, "You are arrogant, thinking we can't be skilled in our own right," Sasuke's Chidori screamed to life, Naruto felt his Rasengan swirl while Izuku held both hands down and created both before forming his Rasendori. "I am still studying, that makes it something like six years since I began, but I have already done what you couldn't," The Rasandori both screeched and hummed lowly. Kakashi took a step back, "The only thing holding me back from attacking anyone right now is the fact I want to help Naruto become Hokage and Sasuke to avenge his brother, until you prove I can actually respect you that will be all that is preventing me."

 **'He is a strong minded** **kit'** Kurama spoke quietly **'He has such powerful chakra I am surprised he has not killed any of you by overpowering yours with what is just radiating off him'**

'I know right?' Naruto smirked, apparently even Kurama was afraid of Izuku.

 **'I am not afraid kit, you misunderstand caution for fear!'** So Kurama was definitely hesitant to fight Izuku at least. 

'Kurama, Naruto, please try not to telegraph your thoughts,'

'Huh' / **'Holy sage of six paths!'** Naruto glanced at his brother.

'Naruto would you like to keep staring at my head or fight Kakashi?'

'How are you doing that?'

'A Ninjutsu normally used by the Yamanaka allows for a mental link I can either mentally communicate two-way with you or one-way with multiple people,' Naruto saw the hidden concentration on Izuku's face. 'However when you are practically broadcasting your inner thoughts it is very hard not to pick up on them,' Naruto just sighed, of course Izuku had already learned a clan specialty. He was a nerd through and through. 'Heard that,'

'Oh go fuck yourself,'

'No' His smug grin made Naruto relax. The greenette was his brother more than anything, that nerd could banter with the best and yet, also know how to ground you to paste in seconds. Sasuke's Chidori faded as his Rasengan shrunk away. Izuku kept holding his Rasendori. "You can relax now Izuku," Sasuke shook his head. "Kakashi knows who he's dealing with now,"

"Regardless, I'm not relaxed, nor turning my back on him just yet,"

"Kakashi, stand down," Third Hokage shook his head, "I do not wish to have a fight in my office,"

" _Never bring her up again,"_ Kakashi actually growled. Naruto didn't waver along with Izuku who simply returned.

" _Never underestimate us,_ " The older Jounin relaxed.

"Fine but do not complain when I push you harder,"

"Finally, progress," Izuku grumbled before turning back to the Third Hokage. Naruto simply sat back down along with Sakura, who had flushed a soft red.

"Sakura, you okay?"

"Um, yeah, I'm, I'm okay," Izuku's hands landed on Naruto's shoulders.

"Uh huh, well you can tell us the truth in time I assure you, but for now you don't need to tell if you don't want to," The greenette spoke slowly. "Anyway, Sarutobi, is there anything else you need from us?"

"No, you are dismissed, you all know your mission, be ready to leave in the morning at the start of the week, it should take a fortnight at longest," 

"Two weeks without katsudon?" Izuku whined.

"Two weeks without ramen?!" Naruto cried, Sasuke just tch'd.

"Dopes, you can take instant packs if you want, you can create boiling water easily," He chuckled "Although asking you two to go a day without ramen or katsudon is honestly the hardest thing I've ever had to do,"

"You love them too don't lie," Naruto poked his tongue out playfully.

"Stockholm syndrome," Sasuke held up two fingers "Eating katsudon and ramen exclusively for the best part of five years does that to you,"

"I'm sorry, what?!" Sakura interrupted their banter, "You three have only eaten katsudon and ramen?!"

"Katsudon is the only thing we know how to actually cook, ramen is cheap in the stores," Naruto ducked as Izuku went to cuff his head.

"What my brother means is, _I_ am the only one that knows how to cook, katsudon is just the most cost effective recipe I know well enough to cook and these two are too lazy to think of anything else except Ichiraku and five minute ramen,"

"Would you like to come eat dinner at mine?" The pinkette offered, all three boys recoiled ever so slightly. "What?"

"We don't," Naruto began slowly, "Well, I'm not exactly welcomed in a lot of places, a lot of people don't like me, Sasuke doesn't like the looks he gets as the last Uchiha and Izuku, he doesn't exactly have the patience for people that are rude to me or Sasuke, he doesn't like new people very much," He bowed in his seat, "So thank you for the offer but we will unfortunately have to decline,"

"Well, I could bring some ingredients to your house if you want? It'd be a nice team building exercise plus you could eat something other than ramen or katsudon for dinner," his heart leapt before worry crashed down.

"It's okay you don't have to if,"

"We'd be delighted Sakura, it gives us all a chance to be a bit less paranoid and anxious," Izuku cut him off. Naruto cursed his brother for sealing his most likely unfortunate fate.

'Just wait, you never know, she might be nice' He turned further to his brother, who was still stood over the back of his chair.

"It also means I don't have to cook alone again tonight,"

"Hey, I cook too!" Sasuke intervened.

"Pouring boiling water into a cup does not count as cooking!"

"Does Naruto cook?" He shrunk into his seat at the question while both other boys chuckled.

"We refer to those as Ichiraku nights, because Naruto just insists on going to Ichiraku's ramen stand instead," Izuku ruffled his messy blond hair. "Sakura if you genuinely want to join us you are more than welcome at the Uzumaki-Uchiha residence, I'll come give you directions once we get things organized and cleaned up," The pinkette smiled, her flush still evident. The Third Hokage coughed.

"You are dismissed, if you could discuss dinner plans anywhere else but my office please?"

"Oh, yeah, shoot, sorry Sarutobi, wouldn't want you to keep _another_ secret,"

"You made your point Uzumaki, go and enjoy the rest of your week,"

"You got it grandpa," Naruto grinned and stood up. Sasuke followed suit but Sakura and Kakashi were the first to actually leave.

"Third," Izuku stepped forwards "I am sorry that I can be so, uncivilized at some points, it is just, I get bothered easily, unnecessary secrets are something I'm not fond of, my genetic donors kept something from me since I was born and when it was revealed it broke my resolve and spirit, for that reason I can be unruly when it comes to unneeded secrecy, so I apologize for unsightly behavior," He bowed slightly.

"It is fine Izuku, go and enjoy your time before your mission begins,"

"Wow, your place is so, high,"

"We find it more secure than being at ground level, less intruders," Naruto opened the door for Izuku and Sakura to enter. The pinkette was carrying a plastic bag of food items. "So what did you plan on cooking?"

"Nothing complex, just some curry and rice, I'm not the best cook by a long shot, I just figured it'd be better than katsudon or ramen for once," Sasuke laughed from the sofa and he read a book.

"Sakura, please, never say anything is better than that, those two may break down," Naruto shot him a glare and frowned.

"Ignore him Sakura, he's just upset he's been barred from the kitchen,"

"You make one mistake!" Sasuke threw his book aside.

"Bitch! You set fire to water!" Izuku called out, "That's not possible, no matter what laws of anything you follow!" They ushered her in to the kitchen. Naruto began getting cutting boards and knives from the cupboard as Sakura called out.

"Uh, where're the aprons?"

"There should be one more by the kettle," Naruto lifted his head up. "Sasuke, give me the apron," The Uchiha stared at him, they had a battle of wills for a moment before he flung the cloth at the blond. "Thank you, here you are Sakura," 

"I can start on the rice," Izuku smiled "If you two want to prep everything else,"

"Sure, Naruto, you know how to dice things for the curry right?" A blank look to the pinkette. "No, come on, be serious,"

"He is, I wasn't lying when we call his dinner nights Ichiraku nights," Izuku grunted, Naruto shot him a glare.

"Sell me out much?"

"Know how to cook anything?"

"Nerd,"

"Dumbass,"

"Hey," Sasuke called interrupting their bickering, "Quit that bitchin' in the kitchen," 

"Why don't you come do something then?" Naruto barked, getting a whack from a wooden spoon Izuku seemingly materialized into his hand.

"Don't invite him into the kitchen!" Izuku growled. They both began hearing giggling from behind them. Naruto turned to see Sakura trying her hardest not to laugh at him.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I've never such a, mismatched family, even though you're all the same age, Izuku is like the big brother,"

"Well, I am more mature and someone has to be in charge," He puffed his chest, "But in all seriousness if I wasn't doing what I do, Naruto would still be on his own crippled by loneliness and Sasuke would be most likely stewing in hatred for his brother over something he didn't understand," The pinkette shifted closer to Naruto. "That's not to say I'm not damaged too, serious neglect, harassment and the like but honestly, I'm probably the most stable here," Izuku shook his head, "Anyway, let's get cooking, maybe you can help me teach Naruto," They all chuckled. Naruto smiled as he looked between Sasuke and Izuku. Sakura hit the nail on the head. They most definitely were a mismatched family but goddammit.

It was his family.


	4. Journey to the Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team seven are off! Naruto and Sasuke look forward to an adventure, Kakashi and Izuku begin talking. Sakura gets to know her team mates better.  
> Something seems off though.

They all met up again at the large gate of Konohagakure, it was departure time. Naruto was grinning along with Sasuke at the chance to finally prove themselves as Jounin. Izuku walked ever so slightly ahead of them. Soon enough they'd reached the destination and waited for Sakura and Kakashi. "Guys!" Naruto perked up and twisted towards the sound of the voice. Sakura was jogging over with her own travel bag ready to go. Coming to a halt she smiled to them all. The blond returning the positive energy.

"Yo Sakura, you ready to go?"

"Hells yeah!" The pinkette clamped a hand over her mouth and fearfully looked over to Izuku. Naruto matched her gaze and paled looking at the sweet smile of Izuku. A sweet smile sending chills down his spine.

"Please don't swear, I have a hard enough time keeping Naruto from doing it, 'kay? Thanks," His voice made Naruto subtly step between the greenette and pinkette.

**'Kit threatening team mates is not a good idea'**

'Kurama, I understand your view but you have not helped curb Naruto's language either' Izuku's thoughts broke into Naruto's mind. 'Naruto we need to work on your mental defenses when we get back' The greenette turned his head to Sasuke and the Uchiha's eyes widened for a second before he shrugged and shuffled to lean against a tree.

"Did you eat breakfast this time Sakura?" Naruto turned back to the pinkette.

"Yeah! Izuku's recipe for breakfast style katsudon was the best!" They heard him laugh slightly before walking over to have a more private conversation with Sasuke. "You excited for our first c-rank mission?"

"You bet!" Naruto held up his thumb. "We're going to ace it, once we get back the three of us will be Jounin as well!" She seemed to falter for a moment "There something wrong Sakura?"

"Well, does that mean we won't be a team?" Naruto stared at her for a moment.

"Oh, yeah I guess I forgot, you always wanted to be on a team with Sasuke didn't you?" A heavy sign, "I don't think we'll be split up, Izuku, Sasuke and I work really well but we don't have a striker, I'm the distraction, Sasuke strikes hard and fast and Izuku heads up a plan and fills in whichever role is needed, what we really need is a fourth member to bring the wham,"

"What about Kakashi?"

"He and Sasuke are too similar, since Kakashi has a Sharingan, they'd get in each other's way once we go on bigger missions," A flicker of hope in her eyes and Naruto smiled. "Don't worry Sakura, team seven isn't going anywhere," They continued talking while the sun rose above the village.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted them all, "You guys ready?" The sun was now lazily climbing through the blue sky while the four of them debated eating lunch or not.

"Yeah,"/ "Sure,"/ "Absolutely,"/ "You betcha," Sasuke, Izuku, Naruto and Sakura responded respectively.

"Wonderful, this is Tazuna, he's the guy we're escorting back to the Land of Waves," Kakashi turned to a bespectacled man with grey hair and a grey beard. he was wearing a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. "Tazuna this is my team,"

"Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you!" The pinkette bowed first.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I got your back,"

"Uzumaki Izuku, happy to help,"

"And Uzumaki Naruto! You got lucky with us as your guard," He rubbed his nose with his thumb. "We'll get you back safe and sound,"

"I was told I would be escorted by shinobi not children," Naruto felt someone grab his wrist as he stepped forwards with indignation.

"Tazuna, we are shinobi, the first rule of being a shinobi is hiding in plain sight, while we may appear to be children we are dangerous, care to explain why you need four shinobi and a kunoichi for a simple escort?" Izuku's voice was calm and patient, something Naruto wasn't aware Izuku had.

'Heard that jackass' Naruto forgot Izuku could hear his thoughts. The blond relaxed and smiled again.

"Like I said Tazuna, you got lucky with us," The old man stared flatly as the large group made their way out of Konohagakure and into the forests. 

"How long will it take us to get there?" Izuku spoke offhandedly as he, Naruto and Sasuke made a shadow clone each.

"About a week," Tazuna grunted as he observed the clones all jump into the trees. Naruto held up his hands and created several more just for security. Izuku had been taught by Itachi longer but Naruto was definitely the fastest, maybe something to do with his dad being the Yellow Flash. The greenette nodded to Naruto and the two closed in on either side of Tazuna. "What are you?" They each grabbed a wrist and put their markers onto him. "What did you?"

"That's a marker," Naruto lifted his hands behind his head. "It means that we can use our flying raijin jutsu,"

"How does that work anyhow?" Sakura leant towards him, "I mean didn't your dad use it a lot?"

"It's a space time jutsu," Naruto shook his head "We aren't entirely sure exactly how it works, maybe a bit like the Kamui, but faster?" Izuku just shrugged, "Yeah so those markers are our technique formula, each user of the jutsu has a different one, hence why both of us need to mark you, dad mentioned something about connecting chakra networks but Izuku and I couldn't figure it out, anyway once something is marked it's permanent by default unless you set a timer on it," Naruto held up a special kunai. "My old man used it on kunai so we did too,"

"Once we scatter them around the battle field we have a massive movement range," Izuku tacked on as the blond nodded.

"Yeah, we can also teleport holding people or objects, but we have to be contacting it," Naruto threw a kunai down the path ahead. "But more complexly we can teleport the object or person to a different marker or just teleport the item without teleporting ourselves," He picked up the kunai from the ground and waited for the others to join again.

"So what about that, round robin jutsu you used?"

"That one?" He grinned to the pinkette, "Basically since we marked each other," His body flickered, swapping places with his brother, "We can swap positions at any time or point when we both use the flying raijin jutsu,"

"That jutsu, that was used by Konoha's yellow flash! And you say your father used it?!" Tazuna exclaimed "Are you his son?"

"Got it in one, blondie is yellow's son, I was adopted into the clan but my chakra reserves let me use it too," The greenette held up a hand. "I told you we were more than you first saw," The blond frowned.

"You may have been adopted but you're still my brother," They bumped fists.

"We're still waiting on why you need all five of us for an escort," He asked again.

"Very well," Tazuna sighed "The Land of Waves has been taken over by a shipping magnate called Gato, he's effectively bankrupt everyone in the Land, if not the Land itself, the only way to revitalize the economy is to build a bridge, undercutting his monopoly," The old man explained.

"But Gato doesn't want that, so he plans on hiring mercs to kill anyone that tries? Sounds like an A-class at least," Sasuke whistled.

"We could only scrounge up enough money for a C-rank and hope for the best, after seeing your abilities with that jutsu I feel much better about our chances," Sakura shook her head.

"These guys have been training since diapers, if there's anyone you want on your side it's these guys," She smiled to Naruto.

"Helping people in your situation is exactly what I want to do," Izuku jabbed his own chest with his thumb. "So don't worry Tazuna, we got your back!"

They walked for silence as the sun began to descend to the treetops. Naruto's foot splashed through a puddle. He and his brother exchanged a glance. Izuku moved to Sasuke and the two nodded briefly. A shinobi jumped from the trees as the blond threw a kunai at the same time as Izuku. Behind them a shinobi grew from the puddle. Between the two enemy a spiked chain appeared ensnaring the group. "Kakashi!" Izuku yelled.

"Get them out first!" His voice was gruff. His brother looked back at him and nodded. Naruto quickly grabbed onto Tazuna and Sakura.

"You might feel a little disorientated," He smiled as he took the two into the cover of the trees. The pinkette and older man were hidden in the shadows as Izuku and Sasuke stood the other side of the path. The chain wrapped around Kakashi.

"Now! Pull!" One enemy shinobi cried, they watched as the chain cut clean through Kakashi and splinters fell to the floor.

"Go!" Naruto called out. Izuku charged first throwing a shuriken to send the chain to the ground. Sasuke followed it up with a kunai to pin it securely. Naruto closed in with a shadow clone, both holding a rasengan each. Sasuke and Izuku both put their weight on the chain either side of the kunai. Naruto and his shadow clone dug a rasengan into the gut of the enemy shinobi. Both were sent flying back, the chain still connected to the silver objects on the underside of their wrists. As they flew back the chain tensed up but the bodies didn't stop. Two sickening pops were heard as they each had a shoulder dislocated. The chain snapped and the bodies began rolling. Immediately they got up and split up, one dashed for Sakura and Tazuna while the other made a break straight for the trio.

"Stay behind me!" Sakura ordered, Naruto could hear the fear in her voice. A barely perceptible nod from the other two and he stepped away, immediately as Sakura's side. From the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke pull out a shuriken. Focusing on the ninja in front of him, Naruto lowered his stance. The metal claw sliced next to him and blood flaked the air. Pink hair waved in the side of his vision.

**'Kit,'**

'Yeah Kurama?'

 **'Bury him,'**

'Already on it,' Wasting no time Naruto slammed his palm into the gut of the enemy ninja. They recoiled, winded but otherwise unhurt and smirked arrogantly.

"You're supposed to close your fist when you punch,"

"I wasn't punching you," Naruto growled, his finger nails growing and his fangs baring. He was directly in front of the ninja in the blink of an eye. "I was marking you,"

**THUD**

**Crash**

A tree began falling as the body of the ninja curved around the trunk. He picked them up quickly and threw them back to the path. "Sasuke, Izuku!" The two enemy ninjas collide in mid air.

"Wood release, rapid emergence jutsu," Izuku rested his hand to the floor and a tree sprouted, quickly growing between the bodies. In no time the boys had tied the ninja to the tree.

"Wood release? Only lord First was ever able to achieve such a release," Kakashi's voice was almost impressed.

"Chakra type allows me to combine basic elemental chakras, there's a lot of stuff I can do that I haven't discovered yet, it's the only reason I was ever able to make the rasendori, because I could find the right amount of lightning chakra to apply, it's how I mastered the chidori so quickly, you have to add it slowly, to quickly and it loses the nature but too slowly and it will just change chakra nature, becoming completely useless,"

"I beg to differ," Sasuke called out.

"Then beg,"

"Uh guys?" Tazuna called out. Naruto whipped back around to see Sakura clutching her hand. Her _bleeding_ hand. He was first over followed by Izuku almost immediately. The greenette pulled out a kunai.

"Those two were the Demon brothers of the mist, fuck!" Sakura's eyes widened as Izuku cursed. Naruto gulped, once they could manage. "Shit!" Oooh no. "They use poison tipped, gah fucking damn it," The blond grabbed Sakura's hand. "We'll have to bleed it out,"

"Too risky, poison won't have spread too far and making the wound worse heightens infection chance," He bit the inside of his cheek. "Sakura, do you trust me?" She nodded as he bit down gently on her hand, sucking her blood out. The metallic warm fluid filled his mouth for a moment before.

There.

A bitter, rotten taste. It began over taking the taste in his mouth as he turned his head to spit it out. "Sakura, we need to sit you down, the faster your heart beats the worse it's going to get," Leaning her against a tree, Naruto went down to one knee and kept sucking, he could hear Kakashi, Izuku and Sasuke talk about the Sharingan while Tazuna recovered.

"I have the first tomoe, after what Itachi had to do, I need the Mangekyou Sharingan if I'm to avenge him,"

"Then you'll need to lose a close friend,"

"I don't think that's true Kakashi, and besides I know Sasuke has no desire to see either of his brothers in all but blood go anytime soon," Izuku's voice helped Naruto relax as he kept sucking the poison and spitting it onto the same patch of grass. "I think it's more akin to overpowering emotions, such as losing a loved one, I should think it has to be bigger than the first tomoe or at least have more meaning, I should think the Eternal Mangekyou is the same too,"

"Actually the Eternal Mangekyou can only be achieved through transplanting and Mangekyou user's eyes into yours, so you two could swap eyes if you really wanted to, how are Shisui's eyes working for you Izuku?" The barely audible screech of Izuku's eyes activating caused Naruto pause.

"About as well as Obito's left eye is working for you Kakashi, except I have more control over the one's gifted to me, I would remind you I am no Danzo and Shisui was my \sensei, best friend and an older brother to me, never insinuate I stole these eyes," Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"Is it true? Does he have Uchiha eyes?" He spat out the poison again, it was tasting more metallic now.

"They aren't Uchiha eyes, they're his eyes, Shisui gave them to him, knowing that he would do right with them, so far he's right, Izuku only rarely relies on those eyes, determined to prove to his greatest teachers that he is worthy of them," Naruto sighed "His technique, is the Koto Amatsukami, Shisui admitted it to me once that he used it one Izuku to give him a small boost in confidence, it plants a thought or idea into the person's subconscious, manipulating them without the victim ever realizing it's a genjutsu of the highest order, Izuku knows of the power but hasn't ever used it, even though his Primal chakra lets him, because he doesn't want to manipulate a person in anyway, talk to them, yes, debate, hoo boy he's there but manipulate? Not his style," Sakura seemed to relax ever so slightly. "It requires the victim to look into his eyes anyway," The fluid tasted like blood again. He spat it out onto the...patch of dirt? Staring at the small circle of dirt he couldn't see a single blade of grass, not even a wilted one. "I'm sorry Sakura, I wasn't fast enough,"

"Am I?" The fear in her voice was almost physical.

"No, I got it all out but if I'd just been a second faster, you wouldn't be like this in the first place," A hand ruffled his hair as he reached into a pocket for bandages.

"Hey, you did everything you could," Guilt twinged in his gut, she didn't know they were wearing the training weights still. "Besides I should be apologizing to you, all this time I've treated you like a class clown but here you are one of the most dedicated and skilled shinobi I know,"

"Please I still have a lot to learn, I have shadow clones in the catacombs still researching for me too, every twelve hours they make a new copy and disperse, so I get a day's worth of study there and then, if I have something I want to research I just make a clone and dismiss it to spread the information to the other clones, then they can find the information and send it back to me,"

"You think you could teach me the jutsu?"

"Maybe, but it splits your chakra up, so you'll probably only start with one, like Sasuke, but chakra training should push you up to three or four," He spoke absentmindedly as he wrapped her hand.

"Wow seriously?"

"I'm not going to lie it is very difficult, Sasuke is only on his fourth shadow clone, but I don't see why we couldn't put you in two places at once,"

"Awesome, thanks Naruto!" She waved her hands and clenched her fist, "Ow," 

"Yeah I'd be careful for a few hours at least, that was a pretty nasty cut,"

"Naruto, Sakura, let's get camp set up for today, we'll make a roster to keep watch," Kakashi called them over. There was silence for a second.

"FOODD!" Naruto and Izuku cried simultaneously, causing Sasuke to almost break down with laughter. 

The blond sat on a fallen log they'd used as a bench during dinner, the remaining embers of the fire smoldering behind him. "Hey Naruto?" A voice spoke quietly from behind. He looked up into the starlit sky through the million branches making the treetops. "Can I sit with you?"

"You should be getting sleep Sakura,"

"As should you, aren't your shadow clones on watch?"

"Izuku and I are taking turns remember?" He looked towards the darkened forest. A kunai landed between his feet. The tag on the handle read _all clear_ in his handwriting. "I'll wake him up in a minute."Why are you up?"

"Just, can't sleep I guess," The pinkeete sat down next to him. "So your jutsu?"

"I suggest waiting until we get back to Konoha, we don't want you too tired during our mission," He stretched his body out.

"What about that Raijin jutsu you used?"

"The Flyind Raijin? That's once the Second Hokage created, it's a class S, spent months getting it down, only seal needed is the seal of confrontation, but you need to use the jutsu formula as a marker, there's also a lot of different ones made from it, Second used the Flying Raijin slice, throwing a marked kunai with a bunch of regular kunai and as the target deflects them, he'd teleport to it with a blade in hand and slice them,"

"What about that Round Robin jutsu? Third said it was never used before,"

"After dad learned the Flying Raijin, he developed a possible new method for two people to swap locations anywhere anytime, but they both have to use the Flying Raijin jutsu at the same time, he also developed a Flying Raijin Second Step, it's a lot like the slice but he throws a kunai into their blind spot, it's more effective against more durable ninja," His hand rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry I was rambling, a little trait I've accidentally picked up from bro, he also created one that uses six warp points in a circle and creats a flash of lightning, super long name though so I didn't bother remembering it," 

"Naruto,"

"Yeah?"

"Izuku said you were trained by Itachi and he had to do something really horrible,"

"Uchiha Itachi was an older brother to all three of us for a point in our lives, he and UchihaShisui were our senseis, they taught us literally everything we know about fighting, shurikenjutsu, taijutsu, hell we broke into the Hokage's office at one point to learn the Shadow Clone jutsu just to prove our abilities at information collection,"

"What did he do?"

"I can't tell you that, that's for Sasuke to disclose, but suffice to say, Itachi was forced to choose between something or the village, even then he wasn't given much choice either," His voice was morose, "But don't worry too much about it, I'm sure you'll learn about it in time, you are trying to date Sasuke after all, he'll tell you when he trusts you," His closed eyes didn't see the pang of despair on Sakura's face but it disappeared when he opened his eyes again.

"About that, Naruto I,"

"Oi bro, my turn to keep watch," Izuku came over and chopped his head comically, "You two go to bed, my clones and I have got the watch for the rest of the night,"

"Izuku, don't even think of staying up the rest of the night,"

"I have some analysis to get done, I'll be fine,"

"What are you analyzing anyway?" He tried poking his head over his brother's shoulder to read the notebook.

"Trade secret, I've been doing a lot of research into the First Hokage, he was incredibly good with chakra, there's a few things I'm trying to study about him," Izuku moved in such a way that Naruto couldn't read his notebook. "Go, bed, now," The blond groaned at the greenette and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, fine, come on Sakura, better not piss him off when he's tired," 

"I can stay up later than you dipshit," The greenette yawned, "Just need to ween off the final cup of coffee and I'll be the best non-sleeper out there,"

"Yeah yeah, sure," He waved a hand before crawling into his tent. Maybe sleep wasn't such a bed idea.

The rest of their journey wasn't much of a disaster. After the first run in the route was actually genuinely really quiet. The entire time Sakura would talk to the four of them about the jutsus she could learn and what she'd really need to fill. Naruto, being Naruto, had obviously been the most talkative and animated in response. He promised to help Sakura with all things from chakra control to the shadow clone jutsu. The blond was now looking forward to completing the mission for more than becoming a jounin. "We should reach our destination soon," Tazuna murmured "Although I am concerned with how little interference there has been," Right now they walked along a path with the forest on one side and a lake on the other. 

"After what happened on day one, whoever is trying to stop you hired someone much more dangerous, they'll probably have a plan laid out now," Izuku shook his head. "Look I'm not saying this is going to be the most dangerous thing in the world but forgetting caution at this time is a very bad idea," Ahead rested a small clearing to the lake.

"I agree Izuku," Kakashi nodded "It is odd that they haven't attacked yet though, none of us have sensed any chakra and your clones haven't picked up anything just yet," Sasuke's arm flung out to the side. A kunai landed in a bush. "Sasuke?"

"Sorry, I thought I sensed something," A small white rabbit raced from the bush, scared for its life. "Unusual,"

"Such carelessness after all this time! Attacking a rabbit!" Tazuna wiped his forehead "Honestly,"

"Actually, that means something much more than you realize," Izuku stared at it, "Naruto, Sasuke, you see it too right?" Naruto was going to answer when Sakura beat him to it.

"Why is it white? Surely that's supposed to be it's winter coat?"

"It is," Naruto stared at it for another moment, "The animal was raised indoors, meaning it's a substitution item, to make it even more convincing than an empty bush," His eyes closed for a moment, "Whoever it is, they're not, wait, something coming fast, three o'clock!" Everyone was on guard as a shadow leapt from the trees and tackled Kakashi.

"Water style, Water Prison jutsu!" Their leader was suddenly locked in a sphere of water as the figure stood up on the water. Naruto stared as the unidentified person faced them, one hand on Kakashi's liquid prison. The three boys dropped into ready stances.

"Sakura, cover Tazuna again," He lowered himself. 

'Kurama, can I get some claws?'

**'Kit if my chakra overloads you, you will end up going into a frenzy,'**

'I just need enough for claws, not much, please,'

 **'Very well Naruto, that should not be a lot and with Izuku I daresay you could be subdued if it came to it'** A sensation filled Naruto as he felt the chakra boost. His fingers tensed as his nails stretched into claws and his teeth sharpened to fangs.

"Sasuke, Naruto, stay on the land for now, if we can resolve this without close combat it'll be a damn sight better for us,"

"Got it," / "Understood," Meanwhile Tazuna trembled behind them.

"Do any of you know who that is? He is _t_ _he_ Demon of the Hidden Mist!" The old man fell onto his backside. Naruto dropped to all fours and grit his teeth.

"I know exactly who this is," Izuku filled in, "For a time the Hidden Mist, was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist, he killed an entire graduating class even though he wasn't a student, last shinobi to be crowned as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, he stole the Kubikiribocho, one of the famed swords of Kirigakure,"

"You sure do your research boy," The figure almost boasted.

"Well, when someone at Anbu level kills a high ranking Jounin of Konohagakure, I make sure to know them," Izuku's eyes narrowed, "Plus finding information on you wasn't even that difficult,"

"Who is this?" Sasuke hissed.

"This is the only man that killed over a hundred academy students," A hulking great sword was lifted in the man's free hand and rested on the same shoulder.

"Momochi Zabuza,"


	5. The battles of the bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Zabuza,"  
> "I am honored you know so much of me,"  
> "Don't pride yourself," His words were an odd level between indifferent and murderous. The boys readied to fight.  
> "I research to fight,"  
> "And we fight to kill,"

"Momochi Zabuza," Izuku growled lowly. Naruto had heard the name before but right now that wasn't his focus. His brother had given him the run down of the guy and now it was measuring time. The man had light gray skin. On the bottom half of his face he wore bandages like a mask. A single belt strap looped around his neck, joining in a diamond clasp over his bare chest running down to his left hip. He wore only baggy, grey stripped pants and similar style wrist and leg warmers. A blank ninja forehead protector was on the side of his head.

"I'm already that famed? All I did was kill a Konoha Jounin," Naruto saw Izuku's hands behind his back. His Chidori came to life with Sasuke's, only one screech filled the air.

'Make a Rasengan on my signal' Naruto lifted one of his hands up a small whirlwind rung out as their Rasengans activated at the same time. Izuku had a Rasendori hidden perfectly behind his back. 

"Do not pride yourself fool," Izuku growled, "I research my opponents to fight," Sasuke darted ahead first, his Chidori electrifying the water slightly, Naruto followed close behind. Zabuza simply lifted a hand and created a water clone, which proceeded to charge forwards and try tank the hits. He could here his brother quietly behind him running in his shadow. Sasuke broke through the water clone and dropped below the surface. As Naruto and Izuku raced over his head, the blond changed targets, striking Kakashi's liquid prison. The sound of a kunai being flung took Naruto's attention, It soared forwards and flew harmlessly past Izuku's head. The greenette smirked and readied his Rasendori. "And I fight to kill!" The electrified Rasengan struck Zabuza's chest, the man groaned in pain. His connection to the water prison was broken and Kakshi felt onto the water surface. Sazuka quickly resurfaced and joined them on Izuku's other side. They watched the green haired shinobi threw his jutsu, and Zabuza with it, towards the centre of the lake. "Rasendori!" All four of them were suddenly on dry land as the whole lake was electrified. Naruto looked at his feet to see one of Izuku's Flying Raijin kunai in the dirt. He must've dropped it when Zabuza first attacked!

"Nice thinking Izuku," Kakashi nodded, "Forcing him to break his connection, but I doubt you killed him,"

"I didn't," Izuku waited until the crackling from the electricity stopped, "There's something bigger at play, recent stories tell of Zabuza being accompanied by a younger shinobi, no doubt they're using it as a ploy, test our strength here and then go ll out at the actual site, or at least, if Zabuza starts losing, the shinobi will interfere and allow him to escape,"

"Then we should," Sakura began,

"Fighting them both right now is pointless," Naruto murmured, "Even if we did manage to get them both, why wouldn't others come after us too?"

"Nice thinking," Sasuke nodded "We can take them out at the bridge and then we've got a point to actually defend,"

"Even though we'll face a bigger force we won't have to worry about attracting more attention either," Kakashi mused, "Good thinking, but we can't just let them go," Izuku had run over to Zabuza's body and teleported back with it. Naruto saw his palm resting on the back of the man's neck.

"I'll take him from here," A new voice broke the clearing. All fix ninja turned with kunai ready. A plainly dressed shinobi stepped forwards with raised hands. "I am a shinobi from Kirigakure, we've been trying to bring in Zabuza for some time now," Naruto walked over.

"Alright, thanks for taking the dead weight," He feigned innocence, offering his hand out. The shinobi shook it unhesitatingly. He suppressed a smile.

'Gotcha' 

"I should be thanking you, it has been impossible to catch him until now, he would always just slip through our fingers,"

"Something tells me this will be the last time," Izuku put his hands on his waist. "We'll be on our way then," The group began walking away. A slight nod and Naruto turned to Sakura.

"What's he doing?" He asked the pinkette.

"He's, carrying the body away," Momentary confusion.

"Why? He could just bury the body and report Zabuza was finally killed," Sasuke offered. The blond watched her slowly figure things out.

"Because Zabuza isn't actually dead, he's being taken to recover and try again, that shinobi wasn't from Kirigakure at all,"

"His partners origins are unknown, most likely because of the fact he's unnamed and normally a precursor to the targets being killed, he may well be from Kirigakure, just to make sure no-one can call him out on it," Izuku shook his head. "But you have the right idea Sakura,"

"Yeah, nice job Sakura!" The blond held a thumb up, "We need to be on guard from now on, Tazuna, don't leave any of our sights, anything grabs you throw this tag," The old man took the tag and nodded, tucking it away in his pocket.

Worryingly there wasn't any attacks the rest of the way. They reached the destination as the sun began to set. "This is my home," Tazuna held out a hand, "Our building site is close by," Naruto nodded and walked over to part of the door, marking it immediately. "What are you?"

"Safety precaution," Izuku followed suit. "Basically we're making sure we can get back here if we're lured into a trap," Naruto nodded.

"Plus if we know where you live, the bad guys are going to know too, so being able to flit between areas is going to be a major help," He tacked onto his brother. "Who's the kid watching us from behind the corner?"

"That is Inari, my grandson," Tazuna murmured "Do not take offence but he doesn't think this is going to work,"

"Well, we're definitely going to succeed now," Sasuke smirked "We don't take well to being told we can't do things," The brothers nodded in agreement.

"You misunderstand, he believes Gato is untouchable due to his incomprehensible wealth and reputation as a guarded sleaze ball," Naruto saw his brother twitch lightly at the mention of reputation,"

"It doesn't matter what reputation a person has, there's always a chink in their armor," The sentence had personal experience behind it, but the blonde decided not to explore it right now. "Anyway, Sakura, you've got good chakra control right?"

"Yeah,"

"Good, Naruto, go train her in some chakra control, you've got the best since Kurama and you need to work on syncing chakra more,"

**'The kit is right, we need to practice that'**

"You got it bro, what will you and Sasuke do?"

"I'm going to be exhausting my chakra reserves to increase my capacity, hopefully I'll be able to mark a kunai or two for my Flying Raijin in time, it seems really good to use with the Chidori, Izuku's going to be watching me to make sure I don't overdo it,"

"As much as I want a Shadow Clone with you as well Naruto, I can't help you unless the chakra overwhelms you and if I'm not there then it's extra reason to keep control," Naruto couldn't be upset with his brother's decision, getting the entirety of Kurama's chakra under control required serious focus. He'd barely made it up to two tails worth of chakra.

**'I believe in you kit, it will take a while but you will master the control'**

Naruto shook his head mentally. "How do you do it Kurama? I get you're gigantic and all that but such fine chakra control?" They stood in the mental space as Naruto called it. This was for more lengthy conversations, in the real world barely a second passed. But he and Kurama could have several lengthy conversations since his mind was focused on the space.

**"My chakra is mine, I control it like anyone else would, you have difficulty because of the amount, it gives in to your animal like rage,"**

"Oh, wait, can you funnel some chakra into me while I meditate with Sakura?"

 **"Alright kit, I'll be careful, I don't want you to go wild,"** Naruto nodded and slid back into reality,

"It works for me, c'mon Sakura, let's go!" He darted away into the woods, the pinkette on his heels. 

"Naruto, hey, wait, NARUTO!" She called after his cackling figure. Luckily he found a small clearing to act exactly as he needed. His feet gripped onto the tree as he ran straight up it. "Naru-to? How did you?"

"Chakra control Sakura, push chakra into your feet and walked up the tree, it'll be easy since you've got really good chakra control," Sitting down on a wide branch Naruto crossed his legs and rested his hands in his lap. "Alright, once you climb the tree tap my shoulder, then I'll move trees and you'll have to climb that one," Chakra slowly started to flow through his body. To the outside it simply looked like meditation but for Naruto, it was focusing on controlling Kurama's chakra. Feeling anger raise in the pit of his stomach he kept focusing on keeping calm. Something tapped his shoulder. Opening one eye he saw Sakura smiling at him upside down.

"I did it," Her joy seemed infectious as the anger died down.

"Alright, I'll move to another branch and we'll keep going," Leaping away he started controlling the chakra again and grinned. He'd reached a full tail without getting angry. Hopefully the evening would be very productive.

"Alright guys, we're going to be heading to the bridge," Kakashi spoke as they walked out the door. Sasuke nodded but looked at Naruto and Izuku. They discreetly shook their heads. Disguising his shock as a sneeze he spoke up.

"Let's get moving then, the quicker the fight begins the quicker we can get it done with," He grunted as the group set off. Naruto sat with Izuku at the window of their bedroom. Sasuke began talking with their Shadow Clones as if nothing was wrong. Naruto watched until they were out of sight.

"Ready?" His brother murmured.

"Ready," The blond nodded, the two walked downstairs to see the small family sat around the table again. Inari looked over in silent shock and his mother, Tsunami followed suit. "Hey, we sent Shadow Clones with them, we think people are going to come after you, having us here is better for you," As if on cue there began a thudding at the door. The two immediately hid in the room, two grunts barged into the room and smiled evilly.

"Two for one huh? Guess that bridge building bastard will have to...give....up....now? Why are you two smiling?" One demanded. Naruto simply coughed. Both looked up to see Izuku and Naruto stood on the cieling.

"Hi," The greenette waved, "Fuck off," They dropped and punched a man each. Quickly they grabbed an ankle of their target and threw them outside before following slowly. as he put his formula on one, Izuku put his on the other, and then they swapped targets.

"What did you just do brat?!"

"Well I've just marked you with my jutsu," Naruto growled "That means that no matter what happens, I can find you in seconds," He loomed over the two, "And if I ever hear you do something like this again, I'll kill you," The two grunts laughed.

"And what can- AHH!" One cried out as Naruto twisted the kunai recently lodged in his arm. "YOU, YOU BRAT!" They tried to punch him. Standing up, the blond avoided the punch with ease. Another kunai into his foot.

"Again, either start running now," A third kunai was held ready in his hand, "Or die," Both men paled. Naruto pulled his kunai away and snarled. The two turned and fled, the uninjured supporting his wounded ally. Wiping the blood from the kunai onto the grass he stowed them back in the holster. "Izuku,"

"Yeah?"

"You ready to go?"

"One second," The blond watched his brother walk over to Inari. The young boy reacted with shock before nodding. Izuku patted his head and returned to his brother. "If I'm right, you get to Sasuke, I'll support Kakashi," 

"Alright," The two looked at the bridge and disappeared without even a flicker.

"You alright bro?" His hand landed on Sasuke's shoulder. "A kekki genkai?" He looked around a the dome of ice mirrors around them.

"I don't know, I haven't needed the Sharingan yet," One of Izuku's kunai flew into the dome and bounced off an ice mirror. "Definitely a kekki genkai,"

"Not for long!" His voice came out, suddenly the second Uzumaki was between the boys and began observing the mirrors around him. "Got it! What did they call it?"

"Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals," He disappeared as quickly as he arrived, "Is he seriously going to?"

"Primal style, Ice release, Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"

"WHAT? IMPOSSIBLE!" Zabuza's voice rang out in pure anger as Sasuke pulled at Naruto, the two barely avoided the senbon needles aimed to kill them.

"I'm barely making it with the Sharingan, you need to get out of here!"

"Alright, I'll come at it from the outside!" He was next to the pinkette. "Sakura are you okay?"

"Y..yeah, Naruto how?" She seemed scared, "I watched you get stabbed and kicked down to the water! Izuku was sent across the chasm to the trap!" A small smirk.

"Shadow clones, we were back at the house, some grunts decided to try and kidnap Tsunami and Inari to get Tazuna to surrender, they won't be doing that anytime soon," Sakura was almost collapsed in shock and fear. "We're both alive, in fact Izuku-bro is proving his Primal is absolutely off the charts powerful, that used to be a kekki genkai,"

"Your brother sure is strong," She whispered,

"And I'm going to be just as strong," He flared up and fell into his mindspace. "Kurama I need a tail of chakra,"

**"You sure you need it kit?"**

"What do you mean?"

**"I am sure you can take this without using my chakra, you are an Uzumaki after all, you can do this without my help just yet Naruto,"**

"Alright Kurama, I'll do it," He nodded and smiled. "Sakura did Sasuke say anything about the mirrors?"

"No, but both he and Izuku tried breaking it from the inside," The blond took off immediately.

"NO YOU DON'T BRA-!" Zabuza leapt for him, Izuku and Kakashi quickly cut him off with Izuku leaping up to kick him further while Kakashi ran behind the blond to intercept Zaubza as he landed.

"Your opponents are us Zabuza!" Izuku cried out as he soared over Naruto's body. Quickly the Jinchuriki leapt and punched a mirror, it didn't break. Naruto growled and kept moving with his momentum, inside the dome he could see Sasuke trying to avoid the needles as best he could. 

"Hold on bro!" He told the black haired boy. "Kakashi, I need a sword!" The large blade embedded itself into the ground as he landed. Holding it in his right hand Naruto put some of his chakra into the weapon. He threw a kunai towards the dome. "Flying Raijin strike!"The kunai moved just past the mirror as Naruto teleported to it. His blade touched the mirror and it shattered into ice shards. "Yes!" Quickly catching the kunai he threw it up at another mirror. "Improvised jutsu, Flying Raijin Lighting Storm!" The mirrors shattered as he threw the kunais just past before slashing as he warped to them. Shards kept falling to the floor as he kept slashing through the icy mirrors. Without even turning as he landed he would throw another kunai behind him and smash another ice sheet. Until there was a single one left. "Now care to tell me your name before we fight?"

"I am Haku, that is all you need to know, since you are about to die!" The enemy shinobi charged forwards. Naruto readied his blade, he wasn't the best with a sword That title went to Sasuke. But he knew his way enough to hurt somebody. Haku dropped into another ice mirror before appearing behind Sasuke. Naruto growled and lowered himself, ready to teleport. "I'm afraid I can't die just yet," He watched the shinobi step into yet another mirror and called out.

"KAKASHI, IZUKU!" His grey haired leader was charging Zabuza with a Chidori, Haku's ice mirror was slowly forming in front of the rogue ninja. His greenette brother seemed to see things in slow motion. The blond could only see Izuku step backwards before using his Flying Raijin to get behind Kakashi. A Rasengan was in his off hand as he grabbed Kakashi's shoulder and vaulted over him, the Rasengan spun down the older shinobi's arm, stealing the lightning away before Izuku threw it up into the air. The orb of lightning disappeared into the sky. Kakashi's fingers crumpled against Haku's chest. Izuku was already leaping away as Naruto watched Kakashi grab Haku and begin leaping backwards. Zabuza moved with a large sweep but it was too late. The blond stared at the rogue ninja and paused. Zabuza had plenty of time for that slice, he could've easily cleaved the three of them but he hadn't. Haku was knocked out by Kakashi with a swift blow to the back of the neck. Seizing his chance Naruto ran over. Zabuza sliced downwards and caught his blade in the concrete. The first Uzumaki stood on it with one foot. "You hesitated," It wasn't a question, it was a statement. The killer bounty hunter had hesitated but that didn't matter, what mattered was "Why?"

"What?!"

"You hesitated, when Haku had hold of Kakashi, you could've shaven them and my brother in half, but you didn't, you hesitated, why?" He watched the facts process behind the killer's eyes. "Is it because you care for Haku?"

"No Haku is," A swift kick from Naruto silenced Zabuza.

"If he was simply a tool you wouldn't hesitate to kill him," It was true, Naruto knew it, a tool is something you can dispense of, something you can replace. "You even attempted to prevent me from fighting him, his kekki genkai may have been useful but you were attached to him were you not?" Before the two can converse further a pair of figures interrupt them.

"MOVE!"/ "Zabuza!" Izuku and Haku spoke respectively. Naruto and his brother crash down to the floor along with Zabuza. Haku isn't as lucky. The Uzumaki's find blood splattering on their faces as they see Haku impaled by a hook and chain. A weak smile on his face. His body is suddenly ripped backwards towards a large group.

"That is one less I have to pay," A voice sneered. Naruto didn't know why but that voice immediately angered him. "I was planning on having you killed since you don't have to pay a dead man," Naruto, Zabuza and Izuku all stood up as they watched a portly man, dressed in a black suit, yellow shirt and purple tie. His beady eyes were covered by small circular glasses and shaggy, brown, receding hair framed his head. In total Naruto felt it gave the man a _very_ punchable face. The three watched the man kick Haku's corpse. "That is for your impudence injuring me earlier," The man began laughing.

"Zabuza," Naruto's voice was as stable as he could make it. "You cared for Haku didn't you? He died believing he was a tool and never achieved his dreams," The older ninja began pulling away at the bandages around his face. The blond took a kunai from his pocket as Izuku tapped his hand to Zabuza's forearm. "You killed hundreds before, now you have a chance to save thousands," Zabuza took the kunai.

"Thank you Naruto, I thought I had forsaken my humanity years ago, Haku had given that back to me, but I had never known to accept it," He watched tears drip from Zabuza's eyes. "Haku had the purest heart and a devotion with magnitude I was too blind to see, it is time I repaid his kindness," The kunai was clamped between his teeth as he hefted the sword up over his shoulder. People began stepping backwards. A series of kunai landed behind the group, intimidating the group into not stepping over it. Zabuza quickly tore through their ranks as the business man shrunk towards the back of the group. Naruto felt his brother disappear from his side. the greenette reappeared next to Zabuza.

"Zabuza," He only got the large man's attention as he pushed the business man. The business man cried out in fear as Zabuza decapitated him, taking his head clean from the top of his neck. Izuku was back next to Naruto. they watched the mercenary fall to his knees, only then did Naruto see his wounds from battling the massive forces. "He isn't dead just yet," Kakashi stepped forwards to meet the man.

"Kakashi," Zabuza's voice was rougher than before, "I am dying now, could you grant me one wish?" His arms were bleeding from several places and is was a miracle that the man's legs still worked after being so heavily sliced and stabbed.

"What is that?"

"I wish to die alongside Haku, please, leave me next to his body," Izuku grabbed Haku's body and carried it over, the two rogue ninja were laid side by side. "You were always by my side in line, it is only fitting I be by yours in death, if I could I would go to the same place as you Haku,"

"You will," Izuku reassured as he crouched beside Zabuza's head. "Trust me, what you did just now, you may have killed an entire class but today, today you saved an entire land, you saved the Land of Waves Zabuza, and you shall go to the afterlife together, we will bury you side by side, as you always have been,"

"Thank you Uzumaki Izuku, Uzumaki Naruto, Kakashi of the Sharingan, you will all become greater ninja than you realize," Naruto could almost see Zabuza's last breath. "I hope history remembers you for the people you save, unlike me,"

"We will make sure the people know you tried to redeem your past with your actions today," Naruto reassured, "It is okay Zabuza,"

"Uzumaki brothers, Uchiha child, you better become the greatest ninja in the world,"

"We will Zabuza, we will," Sasuke added as he stood with the others, 

"Good, the world...needs...kindness....." His words became hisses and his breathing stilled. 

Momochi Zabuza was dead.

Days later the team find themselves ready to go home. As they depart the house Izuku leads them on a short diversion. They stand at the beginning of the Great Seven Bridge. Named after team seven, saviors of the Land of Waves. Naruto shook his head with a small smile and looks to the side of the bridge. By the cliffs rests two patches of dirt with a large rock at the end of each. A small sign sits between the two.

_Here lay Haku and Momochi Zabuza, the true saviors of the Land of Waves. Together they committed many atrocities, killing hundreds. But on their final day in their final hours they stood against the oppressive force of Gato. Retaliating against him and his men. Zabuza was the one that ultimately killed Gato, freeing the Land of Waves from his choking grasp. The two rest now, overlooking the Land of thousands that they saved this day and the millions they saved in the future generations._

As Naruto read the sign once again he knelt at the graves. Izuku had already used ninjutsu to grow flowers that laid on the dirt. Naruto simply put his hand on the dirt between the two and left his Flying Raijin Formula. A hand was rested on his shoulder and he turned to see Sakura smiling softly down at him.

"It's time to go home," The blond stood up and walked back over to his team. 

"Kakashi," His brother's gaze lingered on the graves for another moment as Naruto spoke to the team leader, "I know what type of Shinobi I want to be,"

"And what is that Naruto?"

"I'll be a ninja that never leaves anyone behind, I'll make sure to protect my comrades and never go back on my word, that'll be my ninja way," He looked towards the blue sky.

"That works," Kakashi smiled audibly.

"You know what Narubro?" Izuku smirked, "I may just join you on that ninja way,"

"It sounds like a path I can do down," Sasuke tacked on. "We still have a week's worth of walking back home though,"

"Actually since we're not escorting anyone we can go a lot faster," The greenette quipped back. "Come on, let's go," The team of five leapt into the trees.

'Zabuza, Haku, I am going to be the best ninja ever, just watch me!' His resolve was silent but unbreaking.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

'You are broadcasting your thoughts again,'

'DAMN IT IZUKU!'


	6. Lost ones find one more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Gaara, Temari and... ummm. what's his name?  
> Kankuro! Yes,  
> Enter Gaara, Temari and Kankuro.  
> Chunnin exams.

"I still can't believe Izuku chose to go training today," Sakura sighed as she, Naruto and Sasuke walked through Konoha. "I get that his Primal chakra is immense and everything but, surely he could relax for one day,"

"Izuku never relaxes," Sasuke put his hands in his pocket, "If he relaxes he stagnates, if he stagnates he falls, if he falls he loses, and Izuku never loses,"

"So you do the math," Naruto shook his head, "He never loses, so he never stagnates, he never stagnates so he never relaxes, Izubro is a maniac dude, ever since Zabuza, he's been talking to Kakashi about syncing chakra, whatever that means,"

 **"It means kit,"** Kurama had pulled him into the mindscape. **"That when he uses his chakra for an attack he can combine it with another ninja's to boost the attack,"** Naruto flashed back to Kakashi's Chidori being taken by his brother's Rasengan. **"Yes much like that Izuku would also be able to steal an opponents jutsu and throw it back at them!"**

"AWESOME! My brother sure is cool huh Kurama?!"

 **"He is indeed Kit, very cool,"** The giant fox relented. The two smiled before Naruto returned to the real world. A trio of small children appeared.

"Naruto! I challenge you to a fight!"

"Konohamaru?" The blond stared at the boy, dressed in a green jacket and brown trousers. A comically over-sized dark blue scarf wrapped around his neck several times before trailing dramatically behind him several metres. "You want to challenge me?"

"Yeah, if I'm going to be Hokage,"

"You'll need to work a lot faster squirt," Sasuke shook his head. "I know Naruto trained you in his free time but you got miles to go yet,"

"W-wha... Who are you?!"

"Uchiha Sasuke, how's your shurikenjutsu? Taijutsu? Or do you focus on just Ninjutsu?"

"Uh, well,"

"Sasuke's right I'm afraid Konohamaru, unless you've been working on your fighting and shurikenjutsu, you won't stand a chance against me," The blond jammed a thumb against his chest. "So you gotta work harder than ever got it?! Because I won't accept anything less from my rival!"

"You got it big bro Naruto!" The children turned around and began running away.

"Who is that Naruto?" Sakura asked him.

"Third's grandson, he wants to be Hokage so people acknowledge him instead of who his grandfather is, asked me to teach him but I called him my rival to get more out of him,"

**CRASH**

"Ow," The three ran to the corner Konohamaru went around. Naruto flicked his hand and Sasuke's footsteps disappeared.

"Little brat," A voice growled. Naruto saw Konohamaru being picked up by a boy in a black body suit with a hood pulled over his head and two ear like protrusions at the top.

"What are you doing here?" He struck a battle stance "And what are you doing to that child?"

"I was walking and minding my own business when the brat ran into me," The boy shook Konohamaru "So I was going to teach him a lesson,"

"You're Sunagakure Gennin, so you ain't going to do shit here buddy," Naruto growled

**"Be careful kit there's a powerful chakra nearby"**

"Thanks for the warning Kurama," His vision refocused to the Gennin from Sunagakure. The boy smirked.

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it?" A pebble was kicked to his head.

**SHING**

It bounced from a kunai and landed in Naruto's hand.

"We aren't going to do anything you're not asking for," Sasuke's voice came from a nearby tree, "Don't think you're stronger than us, don't forget we are hosting the exams," He joined the group on the street. The boy stepped backwards.

"Kankuro!" A voice snapped "What are you doing?"

"Teaching some brats manners," He barked back to a blonde haired girl carrying a large fan on her back. 

"Really Kankuro?"

"Shitheads want to fight already Temari!" The blonde grabbed her fan and it stretched out.

"Oh? Maybe this will suffice," A gust of wind was suddenly sent towards Naruto and the group. They prepared for the shock but it never hit.

"I was hoping I didn't have to get involved just yet," Izuku's voice rang out as he held up a hand. Both Temari and Kankuro stared in shock. "It was simple creating a wind with enough power to render yours null, I'm glad the flare kunai work, nice job Sakura," The pinkette nodded. "I'll explain that in a moment, but before we get to that, care to explain why you two are walking around Konoha unsupervised?"

"We're allowed,"

"No you aren't, _Kankuro_ ," Izuku's tone was one of warning, something Naruto had never heard before. "You are visiting from Sunagakure to take part in the Chunin exams, either act accordingly to represent your village or we will kick you out and you will be responsible for your entire class failing this year,"

"Yeah, right, like a Konoha Gennin will make a," Izuku interrupted Kankuro with a heavy sigh.

"Sasuke, Naruto," The two reached into their pockets, while Izuku took something off his upper arm. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to wear these just yet but," All three began putting their headbands on. "We three are actually Chunin, we're taking part in the exam to help our team mate don't worry we'll be wearing weights so your ego isn't too bruised at the end," 

"So you stole some headbands, we ain't going to,"

"TEMARI, KANKURO!" A voice barked out.

 **'Large chakra incoming'** Kurama warned **'Wait, I recognize this chakra, it cannot be, Shukkaku?'**

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing Gaara," Kankuro growled.

"Such contempt," Izuku tutted, "And to think, he's the One tail's Jinchurinki," People gasped in shock. "What? We have the nine tails sure but we need to make sure that we know the enemies and allies of the village,"

"You got the nine tails?" Kankuro spat, "I bet they're a murderous rampaging loony that's been locked up in a cell underground," He taunted "After all that Jinchurinki is holding the most insane of all Tailed beasts,"

"That _beast's_ name is Kurama and _I_ am that Jinchuriki," Naruto ground his teeth. "Uzumaki Naruto, chunin of the hidden leaf," The sand siblings all took a step backwards. 

"Uchiha Sasuke, last surviving Uchiha with two tomoe Sharingan, chunin of the hidden leaf," Izuku took a step forwards.

"Uzumaki Izuku, Primal chakra user, Kekki Genkai stealer, chunin of the hidden leaf,"

"Bloodline Limit stealer?!" Temari gasped "Impossible,"

"Well I've only stolen, Yuki clan's ice release and Senju wood release, but mainly it's just the nature transformation bloodline limits," Izuku smirked "I have to be diligent in chakra control otherwise it'd overtake my mind, sound like someone you know Gaara?"

"Impossible?"

"What Shukkaku giving you nightmares? He was the most loud mouthed of the Tailed beasts if the stories are to be believed,"

"You know it's name?"

"No I know _his_ name and I also know that he couldn't do anything he's saying he'll do, especially because if you die, he dies too,"

 **"WHAT DID THAT BRAT SAY ABOUT ME?!"** A high pitched voice screamed in Naruto's mind as he was forcibly dragged into the mindscape. Behind him stood Kurama, which was different but in front of him stood a very fearful Gaara and a giant creature made out of sand.

 **"SILENCE SHUKKAKU!"** Kurama barked, unusual for any fox except this one. **"You have been torturing this boy for years! What is the meaning of this?!"**

**"Kurama? Have you gone docile on me?"**

**"Shukkaku, you have one chance and one chance alone to explain yourself,"**

**"I'm tired of being locked up! I wanna let loose for once!"**

**"AND TORTURING A CHILD WAS YOUR SOLUTION?!"** Naruto was once again reminded why he enjoyed having Kurama as an ally. 

"Uzumaki, what is the meaning of this?" Gaara barked.

"I'd love to know too Gaara, I've only ever been in the mindscape with Kurama, probably has something to do with how the chakra of the Tailed Beasts is all linked," The blond shrugged. "What has this guy been doing to you?"

"I can't sleep, he'll overtake my body and kill everyone I've sworn to protect, every time I try to help I just hinder them,"

 **"Shukkau~~,"** Kurama growled lowly. The One Tail looked _nervous_ Naruto folded his arms **"Don't worry kit, this great lummox won't do anything that he's threatened to do,"**

"How do you know that Nine Tails?" Gaara looked up in desperation.

**"Two reasons, number one he may deny it but he's grown attached to you, all Tailed Beasts get attached to their Jinchurikis at some point, number two you're going to start conversing with him and working together,"**

**"KURAMA!"**

"Shukkaku," Naruto glared at the tailed beast, "You'll be working, together,"

**"YOU BRAT!"**

"Test me Shukkaku, I don't need Kurama's help to kick your ass,"The fox behind him huffed in amusement. "Hell Sasuke and Izuku could kick your ass with a hand behind their backs,"

**"Kit I wouldn't get too arrogant,"**

"You're right, sorry Kurama, Sasuke and Izuku would be able to fight him though,"

**"True, especially with the Sharigan and the nature transformations,"**

**"Kurama I sense a powerful chakra nearby, is another beast near?"**

**"No that is Primal chakra, similar to the chakra of the Ten Tails, do you remember? The green haired kit houses the power,"**

**"Impossible, a child carrying such power, he seems almost as strong as I am!"**

"He's still working on masking his chakra presence, before every sensory ninja was on him when he was alone, apparently they thought he was the jinchuriki just because his chakra dwarfs Kurama's," Naruto smirked "My bro has some serious ass kicking capabilities,"

"No, that can't be true!" Gaara stepped back towards Shukkaku.

 **"It is, the boy seems to possess chakra stronger than any I've ever seen, he claims his biological mother has incredible power and it was passed on to him, Ninjutsu is the only way he can use it for some reason,"** Kurama nodded 

"Yeah Izubro is powerful! But I'm going to be stronger than him!"

"How can you be so confident?"

"Because I won't go back on my word, that's my ninja way," He spoke with a smile "So I'll never give up,"

"You and I, we aren't alike, you don't know suffering,"

"You got parents?"

"No, mom died the day I was born, dad doesn't much think of me as a son more of a weapon,"

"Both dead the day I was born, Sasuke has no family since they were killed when we were seven and Izuku ran away from his abusive group," Naruto shook his head. "There's a lot of stories out there, some people suffer more, some suffer less, some don't even suffer at all and some never get a break, but that can't be helped," A gentle shrug, "You can't let what happens to you define you, what defines you is what you decide to do, who you decide to be after the dust has settled, do you wanna hurt them after everything they've put you through?"

"No,"

"Then you're okay," Another shrug, "Your suffering doesn't define you, what you choose to do after that defines who you are," They slipped back into the real world. "If you know you want to protect people even after what you've gone through, you're an Uzumaki through and through!"

"But you are a clan of two?"

"Be that as it may," Izuku took over, "We are also the heads of the clan considering it's just the two of us left and given that I'm adopted, we aren't putting importance of blood or genetic relations, so long as you've got a good heart, a kind mind and the strength to protect those you care about, you're welcome to ask or accept our invitation to be an Uzumaki, so what do you say Gaara?" The greenette offered a hand.

"Care to be an Uzumaki?"

* * *

"I can't believe him!" Izuku cried "After everything we do, everything we've done he still screws us over!" Several kunai were embedded into the wall mounted target, Izuku's way of venting. It was littered with dents and scratches as his peripheral aim improved. Sasuke calmly pulled all three out as he stood beside the target.

"Let's face it, we knew he'd pull something like this,"

"Yeah but it wouldn't hurt to be wrong for once," Naruto complained "Sarutobi should just act like a fucking leader again,"

"Language!" Three more kunai in the target.

"Come on dude!" The blond threw his arms forwards as he sat upside down on the sofa. "We're all angry and upset!"

"Yes but you start swearing and you won't stop, Shisui always said swearing is the sign of a limited vocabulary,"

"A poor man's adjectives," Sasuke tacked on. "Sarutobi knew what he was doing, he's been setting us up the entire time, firstly he knew we wouldn't fight if we went to the academy, then he knows the mission is going to be harder than it seems, now Chunin exams are _team based_ and Sakura can't pass if her team doesn't take part,"

"All too convenient," Izuku snarled, Naruto began sensing something rolling off him, by Sasuke's body language, the Uchiha did too.

**'His chakra is seeping through, he is losing control of it'**

'What does that mean?'

 **'Put simply he will go into a blind rage, calm him _now,_ ' **The blond sighed and looked at his brother.

"Yo, we're all mad, it ain't going to help now anyhow, we may as well just take the exam and get it over with, afterwards he'll have no choice but to promote us to Jounin, where we should be," His words lingered for a second.

"I still don't see why Hiruzen did this," Warning lights went wild in Naruto's head. Using Gramp Third's first name was a big sign Izuku was reigning in some serious fury.

"Nor do we," Sasuke shook his head as he returned the kunai, to the greenette, "But we just have to accept it, then we can get it done and put it behind us," A very heavy sign.

"Alright, yeah, okay, that sounds fair after the exam we'll have put it behind us so things will be okay," His tone changed as he took a deep breath in. Naruto and Sasuke relaxed as Izuku calmed down. "I'm still furious though,"

Naruto stared at the sign above the door, squinting ever so slightly. He then turned to look out of the window and gazed at a tree. "I think he's picking up on it," Izuku quipped. Sasuke chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe,"

"Low level, wide effect right," The blond grumbled. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah," The greenette sighed. "Come on, let's bounce,"

"Wait, what? We're just giving up?"

"If they're not letting us in there it's not where we need to be," Naruto shrugged as he grabbed Sakura's wrist. Slowly he led her out of the crowd with Sasuke and Izuku in front of him, scrutinizing the entire hall.

"We're out of ear shot, go for it," Izuku mumbled.

"It was a genjutsu," Naruto whispered to the pinkette. "Izubro,"

"Do not call me that,"

"Izubro and Sasuke can see through it because of their Sharigans, they're training me up to see it, we think Kurama could give me some chakra to snap me out of it but I need to identify it before I can do that," She nodded in understanding. "They can train you too but you'll need a different way to escape it,"

"Outside pain or chakra interference," Izuku dropped into the conversation. "Or just stick with us, I know for a fact Naruto will cover your six,"

"You bet I will, I swore to protect all my team mates!" He boasted proudly. "As well as everyone that I care for,"

"I'll save the rest," Izuku lifted a hand up.

"And I'll bail you two out when shit goes sideways," Sasuke was immediately cuffed around the head. "Yeah, yeah, language,"

"Then I'll heal everyone that's hurt!" Sakura declared. The blond looked to her. "Well," She began explaining, "If you and Izuku are rescuing people while Sasuke fights, then I'll help the ones that are hurt by healing them,"

"Rational," He shrugged at his brother's single word response.

"It makes sense, and then while you're healing people Izubro and I can go help out Sasuke,"

"That name is never going to drop is it?" Izuku groaned.

"Never, ever," Naruto cackled as the greenette sighed in defeat. They made their way to the correct room and sat down. Soon enough other examinees had clued in and moved to the right room. The exam proctor coughed. "Right, wannabes, you got an hour and fifteen to answer the nine questions in front of you, we see you cheating three times you will fail along with your team, your team score will be used to decide if you should pass or fail, if anyone of your team gets a zero you will all fail, question ten will be posed at the end and you will have forty-five minutes to answer it, now begin!" Panic set in. People began scribbling furiously. He looked around to see Sasuke smiling arrogantly, just behind him Izuku was seen almost suffering just behind him. The greenette seemed close to crying as his hands mimicked wringing Sasuke's neck. His brother calmed down before looking to Naruto.

'I... I just, he has not studied a single thing!' Izuku mentally wailed.

'Seriously?' Naurto turned to face forwards 'Well I can not say I am surprised,'

'You feeling good with it?'

'If I need help I will adjust my protector,'

'Got it moving to Sakura now,' He watched the pinkette sit up straighter and looked around. Flashing her a quick thumb up he grinned. Getting one in return he looked back down at the sheet. This was going to be a long hour and fifteen minutes.

"Right, everyone stop writing!" No-one dared disobey, all pens laid down by the paper immediately. "Alright question ten, this is the hardest question of them all, if you don't answer it, or get it wrong, your team fails and you're never able to take the exams again, if you wish to leave now and try again next year, do it now," Naruto smirked as people began standing up and leaving, not willing to risk it. Sakura looked back worried, Naruto just put his hands behind his head and grinned to her reassuringly. "Let me repeat, failing this question will mean that you can never advance beyond Gennin, if you do want to try again, vacate the room, now!" Several more people scrambled out. A chair scraped against the ground slowly. The blond turned around to see, Izuku.

Standing up.

No.

No way. 

Izuku wouldn't.

"You've made your point," His voice cut through the room. "Those fearing the unknown and failure have left already, I'm pretty sure the ones left here and feeling fairly confident in their abilities and the abilities of their team mates," Everyone else gazed at him in shock. "Intimidating us to see how strong our resolve it, threatening certain failure if unknown criteria aren't met, similar to death on a mission is it not?" A confident smirk, "Your attempts to dissuade us has clearly not worked,"

"So you and your team are ready for the tenth question?"

"Yes,"

"Anyone else ready?" They all froze and Naruto watched team mates flick looks to one another before nodding. Along came a unanimous reply.

"Yes," Dead silence. The proctor simply stared.

"Wonderful you all pass," The clipboard was thrown aside and clattered to the ground. Izuku twitched slightly.

"Sorry, we passed?"

"Yes, there is no tenth question, or you could argue if you were ready to take the tenth question is the tenth question, but by staying you show a willingness to fight against unknown odds, so you pass," Naruto watched his brother begin walking away.

"Wonderful, team, my house, twenty minutes," Izuku left the room. The blond counted to ten.

"SAARRUUUTOOOBIIIII!!!" He grabbed Sasuke and Sakura before they flickered into the Hokage's office.

"Lord Third!" Sakura bowed hurriedly before realizing Izuku was shaking the old man. "He got here faster,"

"Izuku's always had an edge with his primal chakra, plus I was carrying you two as well," Naruto chuckled.

"WHAT KINDA HALF ASS, FAKE OUT SHIT WAS THAT?!" 

"Uzumaki, I appreciate your frustration but unhand me," Izuku let the man go and stepped off the desk.

"I had to waste an hour, numbly staring at the ceiling for the last question to be a fake out?!"

"You finished it in fifteen minutes?!"

"It's the test for,"

"It's sum bullshit, is what it is, the written portion is information collection, subtle movements, codes, mirrors, not oh ho, you brave enough to answer random question!"

"There is no need to yell,"

"I appreciate that, and I am sorry, but I'm very mad!" Izuku bowed while still shouting. "You essentially forced us to take the exam because you wouldn't let us train Sakura to be promoted anyway!"

"Your brother was the only one to offer that solution,"

"Because my anger is making me tunnel vision and Sasuke isn't that creative,"

"Hey!" The Uchiha cried in indignation.

"Oh, bite me!" The greenette snapped in return.

"Well the four of you passed, congratulations, the next part is something you're better suited for, something akin to a race,"

"Wonderful, thank you for the information!" Izuku was still yelling, except there was sincerity in his voice. He walked to the door and looked back at Grampa Third. "Have a great day!" The door shut quickly.

"What is his problem?" Naruto murmured.

"I don't know, he's your brother," Sakura giggled.

"Did you just sass me?" He rounded on her, the pinkette smiled.

"We should go get him before he damages something,"

Naruto stared at the sky while the other three talked. The last few days had been wild. Meeting Gaara and the sand siblings in and of itself was stressful, especially with Shukkaku joining the mix. The other tailed beasts he didn't know about. Hopefully they were all treated better than him, hopefully. Then there was the matter of anyone going after the tailed beasts. If Kurama was the strongest that made him a massive target, but hopefully nobody outside the village knew he was a jinchuriki just yet. But that didn't mean the others were weak, Shukaku would be impossible for any one ninja to defeat, even a Kage would have trouble. So the others were also incredible targets, especially the higher tailed beast jinchurikis. Not to mention how they would be treated by the tailed beasts themselves. Kurama had been patient and wise but Shukkaku has shown an inverse style. Naruto pleaded to whatever higher power there was that Shukkaku had been the worst. Kurama being the strongest gave leeway to several other questions as well. If he gave his chakra to Naruto, how strong would he be? Would the chakra kill him? Would his body break after the effects wore off? Worse, would he get addicted to the feeling?

"-Ruto! Naruto!"

"Huh?" The blond dropped back to earth and looked at the three.

"I was wondering if you wanted to get food to celebrate?" Sakura smiled, "We could get ramen, or katsudon?"

"Katusdon?" Both Izuku and Sasuke gasped.

"Naruto?"

"I'd prefer ramen,"

"Kat-su-don, kat-su-don," Oh, so that's how it felt to be on the receiving end of the chants.

"Saku-ra?" His hope fell as the pinkette also grinned with a devilish look in her eye.

**'Kat-su-don, kat-su-don,'**

'Not you too Kurama, you can't even,'

**'I taste and eat what you eat Naruto, you are a jinchuriki, if you ingested poison I would die too, so I am able to taste what you eat in case,'**

'That sum bullshit!' He rejoined reality to a chorus of 

_"KAT-SU-DON, KAT-SU-DON,"_ From his three team mates.

"Alright! Let's go get katsudon, if it shuts you guys up!"

"YAAYY!" The three cheered. Izuku swung his arms around Sasuke's and Naruto's shoulders, the latter throwing an arm around Sakura. He knew what was coming.

"Hung pictures of hokages up on my wall," The greenette began, in a horrible key and tone.

"To remind me that I am a fool," Sasuke picked up matching the almost painful style.

"Tell me where I came from what I will always be," Naruto continued. Sakura whispered to him.

"What's going on?"

"Just a spoilt little kid who when to ninja school," The blond smiled as they cycled back to Izuku.

"We're singing, you can join in when you know the words," The pinkette nodded before Sasuke filled the silence.

"When I am dead I won't join their ranks," 

"Cuz they are both lethal and free,"

"And I'm in Konoha, demonic and sealed up,"

"And until the end that's how it'll be," All three boys took a deep breath.

 _"MAKE ME LOVE MY SELF SO THAT I MIGHT LOVE YOU!! DON'T MAKE ME A LIAR CAUSE I SWEAR TO GOD! WHEN I SAID IT I THOUGHT IT WAS TRUE!"_ They laughed in the momentary pause.

"Lord First told me not to worry about you," Sasuke started the verse this time.

"He's got his own kills to deal with,"

"There's really just one thing we three have in common,"

"Not one of us will be missed," Nudging Sakura, Naruto looked up.

"Akamaru sits,"

 _"AT THE TOP OF THE LOOKOUT, YOU ALWAYS SAID HOW YOU LOVE DOGSS!! I DON'T KNOW IF I COUNT BUT I'M TRYING MY BEST, WHEN I'M HOWLING AND BARKING THESE SOONGSS,"_ The three burst out laughing despite strange faces from onlookers.

"What, what was that?"

"That was a song from where Izuku is from, he learned a bunch and adapted them for us here so they make sense, we've sung them whenever we're on a high, we'll teach you them soon so you can sing along too," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "If you want to that is,"

"I'd love to," She nodded. Izuku cleared his throat.

"Right, from the top then," The cheery atmosphere was infectious. "Hung pictures of Hokage up on my wall,"

And so off the team went into the night. Singing their hearts out to close up a day well spent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So....  
> This took a while, what with my progress getting deleted by accident several times, fucking hate how forgetful I am.  
> That being said the song I altered is Saint Bernard by a guy called Lincoln, I actually found it on a BNHA AU on Youtube. Damned if I can remember which one tho.  
> Thanks for being patient and don't forget to comment. Love reading what you guys think, even if I can't respond to all y'all (Mainly cuz I don't wanna sound dickish)  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	7. Charge! Into the forest of death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 are getting ready to take the second part of the exam.  
> Things go semi-smoothly until.  
> "I see hate in your eyes Uchiha,"  
> \---  
> "How did, how are?"  
> "We'll explain later,"  
> "Or maybe we won't since you never listened before,"

"Everyone ready to go?" Izuku was adjusting his kunai holder on his thigh while addressing the others.

"I'm all good," Naruto leant sideways, stretching his arm over his head. "Sakura, Sasuke?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just ran to the store to stock up on some kunai since _someone_ borrowed mine for their formula," The blond whistled slightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Naruto, if you needed some kunai you could've just asked me y'know?" Sakura giggled. All three boys paused for a moment and gazed at Sakura.

"Oh no," Sasuke whispered "It's spreading," The greenette laughed at the quip.

"What's spreading?!" Naruto barked.

"Y'know," Izuku shrugged " _It,_ "

"What's it?" Sakura looked at the two.

"Y'know," Sasuke smiled.

"No I do not, so you better tell me before I beat it out of you y'know?!" Realization struck. Kurama was busy losing it while Naruto just growled. "Oh I bet you find it so funny,"

"Little bit," Izuku chuckled as Sasuke almost doubled over in laughter.

"They're on about my vocal tic, whenever I'm not thinking I add y'know at the end of my sentences, since you said it in your statement they think you're picking up my tic," The pinkette blushed. 

"So according to the proctors we have until the end of the week to make it to the building in the centre of the forest of death," Izuku tilted his head to the side. Naruto heard the cracking of his neck. "We have a scroll if Heaven, we also need a scroll of Earth to get there, who wants to guard the scroll?"

"I will," Sakura surprised the boys by raising her hand, "I mean, they won't expect it will they? They'll think one of you three will have it, plus it leaves our best fighters free to fight y'know?" He felt his face flush as he noticed his tic. 

"That's actually a good point, plus we can all keep our true abilities hidden until the finals," Izuku nodded "Alright, Sakura, you'll guard the scroll," The small cylinder was thrown to the pinkette, who slipped it into her kunai holster. "Nice, that way it won't actually fall out,"

"And it makes it harder for someone to take without her noticing," Naruto smiled, "Great thinking Sakura!"

"T-thanks guys," Sasuke coughed for attention.

"Alright, so how do we move?"

"Diamond formation, fast, Naruto can't take front or he'll break too far ahead, Sasuke, can you lead? Your Sharingan will give you a wider view to lead, I'll keep the back," Naruto listened to his brother take command, "Sakura, are you right or left handed?"

"Left, why?"

"You can take the left side, Naruto can take the right, we stick to the formation until we're in battle, at that point, Naruto retreat with Sakura, teams will go after you ignoring her, hopefully they'll completely skip her to get to you," The greenette didn't seem to notice Sakura deflating. He stepped in.

"So we're the distractions while Sakura brings it home for us?"

"Absolutely, I mean no disrespect in fact I meant it as praise, it's a ninja's job to go under the radar, Naruto, Sasuke and I have somewhat of a hard time doing that, so if fall to Sakura," He rectified his statements. "Everyone still have their formula markings?" Sakura and Sasuke nodded, Naruto pulled his jacket down to show the marking on his shoulder. "Wonderful, Naruto, make a clone to take your place and sit in the center, the less they suspect Sakura the better,"

"Alright." The blond grinned as he created a double and the team began their move into training ground 44. The Forest of Death.

"Izuku, not to be crude but how do you know this place so well?"

"I was created in this forest, molded into the shinobi you see in these trees, trained my agility avoiding these branches, each and every day I'd be forced on another path by Itachi and Shisui," Naruto noticed the melancholy in his voice. "I've learned so-,"

 **'KIT LEFT'** Kurama interrupted 

"LEFT!" Naruto relayed, disappointed he'd let his guard down. The five figures jumped in different directions and several genin attacked them.

"Well, well, Konohan's let their demon brat out," A voice came with an audible smirk.

"Hidden stone genin?" 

"Genin from all hidden villages are going to be here," Izuku addressed the group, "I'm surprised they're the first, I would've sworn cloud nin would come after us first," The five bodies stood on a single long branch. "Naruto, the real one, go with Sakura, Naruto Shadow, Sasuke and I are more than enough to finish this up quickly," A single grating noise pierced the air but Naruto knew, both of their Sharingans were active. "Nothing lethal,"

"Naruto, let's get moving," Sakura grabbed his wrist and pulled him as the three leapt down to meet the enemy ninja. Blond and pink began charging through the forest. "We need to put as much distance between us and the fight as possible," She was right, Naruto knew that.

"Alright, sorry about this," Scooping Sakura in his arms he bounded ahead, lifting his conscious restraints for a moment. Trees began blurring together as he picked up speed.

**'Kit you can not be mad at yourself'**

'Watch me I let my guard down'

**'That is why I am here Kit, to help you learn, now focus on the task at hand'**

Naruto grinned as he leapt off another branch sticking one foot forward instead of both. Pressing himself away from it he stretched his other leg out.

"Na-naruto are you running?" Sakura gaped at him while his legs worked under him. Sure enough he's stopped jumping and started running.

"Yeah I, it's just easier this way, I can focus more chakra into a single leg and push us further this way," That was a half truth. Honestly Naruto just preferred using a single leg since it gave him more control plus he felt his running was faster in general. Silence prevailed for several moments as Naruto sprinted across the limbs of the forest.

"I'm sorry,"

"For what?"

"Well, everything, I constantly underestimated you, not only that I'd insult you, to your face and behind your back, there were all sorts of horrible things I did,"

"And? My plan was to get everyone thinking I was one of the worst students, I needed the entire academy to believe it otherwise Sasuke would've been forced onto another team and Izuku and I didn't want him to fell alienated again,"

"Still, we-I was a horrible brat," He chuckled lightly to himself.

"Sakura, I went through a lot worse than name calling and being left out, one day I'm going to make Ichiraku famous throughout the shinobi world,"

"Why?"

"Because, they're the only place that doesn't treat me like filth, everywhere I go the town gives me strange looks or hisses the name under their breath, I get kicked out of most all stores and overcharged in the rest, Izuku has to go out and do the shopping on his own since he's the only one people don't recognize,"

"Sasuke?"

"Gets weird looks from everyone, come on Sakura, all the girls in school were gaga for him, surely you noticed how the villagers are apprehensive and don't trust him further than they can through him?" Silence. "There's a difference between love and obsession y'know?"

"What? But,"

"Don't worry about it, just something to think about,"

"Where did you guys get your jackets anyway? I've never seen them,"

"Shops stocked the style up but a single jacket was never sold, I was doing some rummaging to find Izuku a birthday present and he surprised me with my own one a week later,"

"Rummaging? Oh,"

"Yup, he got me a pristine clean and folded one while his was found in a bin for destruction, can you believe it?" Naruto thought for a moment. "He even managed to nab Saskue a black one for when it gets cold, he said he'd start wearing it more as we go since there's we don't have to pretend to hate each other anymore," A slight giggle.

"Sasuke in a matching jacket? I would've seen it all when that happens,"

"Please there's a lot left to see,"

"Like what?"

"Like the day I become Hokage, when Sasuke becomes the best Anbu and Izuku becomes strong enough to accomplish his mission,"

"What's his mission?"

"Sorry, clan secret," He chuckled.

"Alright then, keep your secrets," They ran through the trees in a more comfortable silence. A small clearing was up ahead as Naruto detected several ninja approaching. Three people hit the clearing before him. One seemed hurt, the other two pale.

"Gaara!" He hopped to the floor and dashed over to the team. The redhead was on one knee clutching his chest. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed by this snake bastard, the sound ninja guys, there's four of the fu-,"

"Please watch your language around Naruto, Kankuro," Izuku's voice startled everyone. Naruto's head buzzed suddenly as the shadow clone's memory was transmitted to his. "By the way, you can put Sakura down know," The blond noticed that the pinkette was clutching his jacket from fright. The two slowly separated. "Kankuro you were saying,"

"Right, the ninja from the sound, there's four of them, not three,"

"And a snake like person?"

"Yeah," Temari spoke up, "Gaara was able to catch him with a bit of sand and this guy just, transformed,"

"Sounds like him," Sasuke rubbed his chin, "Naruto, Izuku you don't think,"

"Well, whoever's hiding in the trees should come out before I kick them to the dirt," Izuku interrupted, Naruto and Sasuke were on guard immediately. Sakura followed suit with Kankuro and Temari matching. The five formed a protective ring around an injured Gaara.

"I doubt even Sasuke can cover both of the Dumb-luck duo and Forehead at the same time,"

"Yamanaka, please don't underestimate us," Izuku's voice was curt, "Perhaps a small display?" Naruto made a shadow clone that stood in front of Izuku. The blond watched his brother raise his hands. "Using your jutsu in class made it very easy to copy," Silence as the group on the floor smirked. "Mind transfer jutsu!" The sound crashed through the trees, echoing for what felt like eternity. Shikamaru Nara landed from the canopy. Izuku's body fell limp onto Naruto's clone.

"How troublesome," The guy groaned.

"Shikamaru!"

"Nope, Izuku, like I said," Shikamaru's body turned around, "You flaunt the jutsu so much it was impossible for me not to be able to copy it," Izuku-Shikamaru flexed his fingers, "And I finally get to try, Shadow possession Jutsu!" 

"No way you're lying!"

"Oh, am I?" Izuku-Shikamaru stepped forwards and Akimichi Choji fell to the floor. Both bodies bent at the knee to prevent Choji's body from being hurt. "Naruto, hand Choji a kunai,"

"What?" Naruto and the rest cried at once.

"What?" Choji's voice was strained as he fought the possession. Izuku-Shikamaru just grinned and shook his head. The blond understood immediately. Choji's hand moved forcibly to accept the blade and it was whipped across the clearing until it thudded into a tree. Ino didn't even get to mock them before Naruto was at his kunai. The blonde turned to stare at him in wide shock. He tapped her shoulder lightly.

"Tag," They were back on the forest floor.

"No, no way," Choji dropped as he was released from the jutsu. Izuku's body straightened up and Naruto's clone dismissed in a puff of smoke.

"What happened?"

"Short story, you're loudmouth not very stealthy team mate decided to boast so Naruto and I brought the three of you down here," Izuku chuckled, "Sorry man,"

"Nah it's cool, glad you could drop the act after so long,"

"Wait, Shikamaru knew?!" Sakura cried. Naruto laughed.

"Yeah, he was a trouble maker with me and Izuku, only other one that knows is Kiba but he's a bit stubborn anyway,"

"Wait what?" Ino barked, bursting into the conversation. Naruto stiffened as he stood up.

"Izuku, five signatures, approaching fast, from the direction Gaara came from,"

"God dammit!" Izuku ground his teeth. "Alright, take Sakura, Ino and Shimakaru, I'll take Choji and Gaara, hey Kankruo, Temari, how fast are you?"

"What? We're not running from a five on ten battle!" Ino barked again, Naruto ignored her as he jumped into the plan with his brother.

"Kankuro and Temari won't be able to keep up with us, just grab one, Sasuke can you make a Shadow clone?"

"The fight took it out of me but I can manage one," The three all put their heads in the clone sign and their duplicates popped into existence. 

"Alright, Sasuke, you take Temari, everyone else pick a clone," Izuku commanded.

"Why does she get to," Ino began.

"Because she isn't going to harass Sasuke or think too far into him carrying her unlike you, she's also lighter than the boys so it's easier on Sasuke's clone since he's equally exhausted,"

"No," Gaara grunted, "I am not leaving you to a three on five,"

"Well you ain't got a choice Gaara, you're hurting and Shukkaku's doing his best to heal you," A Naru-clone grumbled as he lifted the redhead.

"Who's,"

"Doesn't matter right now," An Izu-clone muttered, "So much for keeping secrets," All of the Naruto's gulped in unison. "Alright, clones get moving," Swift movements and the slightest breeze. The three boys stood alone now. Five figures landed opposite them.

"Sound nin, you lot are a bother," Sasuke rolled his shoulder, "Ah well, I suppose it's good exercise," The four ninja sneered at him. Naruto grabbed his forehead. "What?"

"Dammit Sakura, she forcibly dispelled a clone and is on her way back now,"

"Shit," Izuku cursed, that wasn't a good sign. "But at least it'll even the odds slightly, you two take out the four, I'll take Orochimaru,"

"Foolish decision boy, challenging a Sannin,"

"You may be skilled but you haven't been a Sannin for a while Orochimaru," Izuku growled. Naruto charged to meet two of the sound ninja attacking. His palm striking a four armed man in the gut and catching a pale blue haired man across the face.

"Is that all you really got?" The four armed man boasted. Naruto turned around and threw his kunai everywhere. "You missed kid, killing you seems almost too easy," Naruto simply moved to a kunai and smirked before getting behind the four armed man.

"Tag," He dodged an attack easily and grabbed the ninja's throat. "You're it," His teleporting left a small blip of yellow light as his voice echoed from every kunai. "Flying Raijin Storm jutsu!" The two ninja watched in disbelief as Naruto disappeared and reappeared randomly. The new jutsu he designed was taxing to say the least, unlike his dad's obnoxiously named jutsu, his kunai weren't in a perfect circle so it was already harder to keep moving initially, not to mention his involved going to the enemy randomly too. He also had to avoid their attacks while fighting and landing his own attacks. Striking the four armed man in the back he left the pair stunned. He was then in front of the pale haired man, delivering a strong roundhouse kick to his head. Inches before contact he shifted. His shin connected with the four-armed man's head. The body moved with his rotation and he was behind the pale haired man. His hands clapped together and his fingers entwined as he brought them down on the top of the man's skull. His body circled in a flip as his leg kicked out. Delivering an axe kick to the same spot the man stumbled forwards. Naruto touched the floor and pushed the man forwards. The two men collided and stumbled towards one of his kunai. He punched them towards another, then a kick towards a third. It would've become an endless chain of vicious strikes if both men hadn't fallen over unconscious. In seconds he'd warped and collected all of his kunai. Then it happened. 

"KYAA!" A scream of terror, from a voice he recognized. A look over his shoulder revealed Sasuke fighting a red haired woman continuously playing a flute and sending ghostly creatures to attack and follow Sasuke. Behind them was a rotund man with three strips of orange hair on his head holding Sakura off the floor by her hair, a kunai to her throat. Sasuke stopped fighting the girl who jumped back to her team mate.

"Alright you lot," Izuku and Orochimaru stood in a stalemate, staring each other down. "Anyone makes any moves and this girly bites it," Sasuke balled his fists and growled. Izuku looked over his shoulder to his brother. The blond locked eyes with him for a second.

"Do it,"

"Oh so you're going to try someth, -urk!" The man was mid boast when Naruto dug a kunai into his side, his free hand on Sakura's shoulder. In that same second Izuku had gotten to Sasuke and warped them both to fight Orochimaru. Naruto lashed out with his other arm, striking the woman in the gut and sending her flying backwards. Her body crashed into a tree and she remained trapped in the crater unconscious. Delivering a powerful blow to the man's temple his whole body crumpled. The blond crouched and caught the falling Sakura before she could hit the floor. Orochimaru was laughing as he fought Izuku and Sasuke.

"You two, you fight with the drive to avenge someone, but you don't have the power yet, I could give you that,"

"Nope!" Izuku leapt up and dug both of his feet into the man's face. "We're good for now thanks, right Sasuke?"

"Right!" A Chidori in hand the surviving Uchiha raced forwards at a downed Orochimaru. His hand passed clean through a wooden log as the older ninja's body disappeared.

"Think about my offer, I can see hate in your eyes, especially yours Uchiha, I shall leave you with a parting gift to help you,"

"Sasuke!" Izuku called out. Naruto watched his brother warp to Sasuke's side and grab the back of Orochimaru's head. In a single deft movement the greenette pulled the assailant back, grabbed Sasuke and revolved his body almost inhumanely to kick Orochimaru through the forest. The two were then by Naruto's side. "Let's rendezvous with the others, a shadow clone of mine has already got some Jounin on the way to apprehend these guys and I'm pretty sure Naruto put them all into a deep sleep already," Naruto nodded and got ready to leap away.

"Are you going to let Sakura down or?"

"Easier, this way we can move faster, shed your weights, I'll collect them after we reached the tower," The other boys nodded. Sasuke lifted his trousers past his shins and pulled off what appeared to be shin warmers, Izuku doing the same for his sleeves and arms. Both chucked them aside carelessly and the weights broke through several branches before making small craters on the ground. The boys then swapped their attention, Sasuke checking his arms and Izuku doing his legs. Naruto had some shadow clones form to remove his own weights. All three boys crouched low. "Last one there buys dinner,"

They landed in the clearing and the other six were gathered in a defensive position waiting for them. Naruto felt a slight headache from all the clones dispelling at once but that was to be expected with how little he used the jutsu. "Is everyone alright?" His brother immediately landed into the leader position and stood up. "Gaara?"

"I'm good," The redhead nodded.

"Alright, Shikamaru, Choji you two alright?"

"Yeah, we're good," The black haired boy responded lazily. "What was that?"

"That was Orochimaru one of the three Sannin, and his four lackeys, right now the four are being apprehended and Orochimaru has fled," Izuku shook his head, "We should be safe for now,"

"SHOULD BE?" Ino barked, "Are you optimistic or just stupid?"

"Neither," Sasuke leapt to his defense, "Orochimaru knows not to underestimate us again,"

"I bet you kicked their asses Sasuke," Naruto could _feel_ Izuku twitch.

"I barely stood on my own, fighting the stone nin really took it out of me,"

"You haven't exactly mastered the Sharingan yet Sasuke, so it's going to drain you for a while, still you lasted against the two,"

"Yeah until one got away and managed to hold Sakura hostage," The Uchiha responded despondently, "I,"

"Was suffering from chakra exhaustion after putting two ninja under genjutsu, Naruto has a naturally bigger store, not to mention he didn't use much ninjutsu fighting the opponents,"

"But still I should've been able to take one of them out instead of leaving it to Naruto,"

"You kept two busy for long enough for me to take the first pair out, once they got Sakura it was honestly only me that could get there fast enough," Naruto butt in. "Sasuke, without your input we probably would've been killed by the stone nin,"

"Wait so Naruto took out four on his own?" Ino stepped backwards "And Izuku stood his ground against a Sannin one on one?"

"That is what they just said yes," Gaara confirmed. "Anyway what happens next?"

"Well if we get moving now we should be able to reach the end in a few days,"

"But what about scrolls?"

"Well if we team up we'll not only both scrolls but we'll also have three," Sasuke shook his head, "They said we'd be disqualified if we didn't have both scrolls but also if we handed in just two as a three man team,"

"So?" Ino snapped "We've still only got one scroll per team, and you still haven't explained how the Dumb-luck duo fought a Sannin and four ninja each!"

"We'll explain later," Naruto grumbled "Since you can't see past your own obsession,"

"Or maybe we won't since you never listened to us before, example A thirty seconds ago,"

"If we work as a ten man team and hand in three scrolls we've countered both disqualification rules, both scrolls and more than a two man team handing in the scrolls," Temari nodded "Not a bad idea,"

"There's also this," Sasuke smirked and pulled out a scrolls from his pocket. "The Sound nin didn't really care about the scroll so it was easy to swipe,"

"And this one," Izuku did the same, "Stone ninja don't put much into defense apparently,"

"Nice job you two! So we have five to our ten man team!" Naruto beamed "Now we can just make our way to the tower!"

"Hold on a second, who said we'd work with you? You guys are the Dumb-luck duo, worst one and dead last, why should we?"

"Don't underestimate them Ino-pig," Sakura interrupted, "Honestly the only reason I'm alive is because Naruto was able to save me from one of the Demon brothers on our mission to the land of waves, Izuku helped Kakashi sensei fight Zabuza while Naruto saved Sasuke from Haku at the bridge, not to mention they both just saved all six of us,"

"Six?"

"Sasuke saved Temari and they didn't need to carry him away, more importantly, these two have been hiding in plain sight the entire time, Naruto's been giving me advice on training since our mission, I'm training to be a med-nin!" The blonde laughed at her.

"A med-nin? Do you want to paint a target on your back or?"

"Sakura," Naruto interrupted, "What are tenketsu?"

"Chakra points on the human body,"

"How do you disrupt chakra flow?"

"A targeted strike, normally a jab with a finger full of focused chakra or use of a senbon needle,"

"How many strikes could you theoretically kill someone with?"

"Just one," Ino didn't say anything as Sakura smirked.

"A med-nin knows the human body inside and out, they use senbon needles as a chosen throwing weapon, Sakura may be training to be a healer but you'll be surprised at how much damage she could do to you when she's fully trained up,"

"But a med-nin must avoid the front-lines," Shikamaru rested his hands behind his head.

"And that'd be a problem," Izuku held up a finger, "If there wasn't the fourth rule of med-nin's created by Tsunade, another of the Sannin,"

"Rule four states that med-nins that have mastered Ninja Art Creation Redbirth, Strength of a Hundred Technique, developed by Tsuande, are allowed to break the other three rules," Sakura finished up.

"And how do you plan on learning that?" Ino snapped finally. 

"Well you learn the Creation Rebirth technique and have the Strength of a Hundred Seal," Izuku shrugged "It isn't exactly hard, it just requires immensely precise chakra control, so precise in fact, it's been reputed as the pinnacle of chakra control, all you have to do is store vast amounts of chakra on a specific part of the body, for an extended period of time, Sakura's been doing it for what, a few weeks now? She should have it down pat by the time she becomes a Jounin so there's no reason to worry,"

"And then she'll really kick bad-guy butt!" Naruto cheered "I wish I could do it but apparently my tenketsu are too big or something for such fine chakra control," He didn't notice the tint of red on Sakura's face at his words of encouragement.

"Well at least Forehead's got the space for,"

"Just because she hasn't got Sasuke's god-uhh, what was the word Izubro?"

"Godawful," He lazily responded, folding his arms.

"Just cause she doesn't have Sasuke's godawful bangs doesn't mean she's got a big forehead and anyway, at least her hitai-ate would fit instead of covering her eyes," 

"What's wrong with my bangs?!" Sasuke quipped.

"Emo," Izuku fake coughed, getting a glare from Sasuke. "What? It's true,"

"No it's not," Ino stamped her foot, causing her own forehead protector to fall from her hair.

"I can fight my own battles," The Uchiha quipped. "And you should probably all put them around your foreheads anyway, since Orochimaru is in the forest we should be vigilant," Naruto nodded, adjusting his own headband.

"Such a drag," Shikamaru complained as he pulled his own standard dark blue hitati-ate from his left shoulder.

"You said it," Izuku lifted his from around his right forearm. As he tied it around his head several people noticing something.

"Why is your's dark green?"

"Because I asked for to to be? Duh, Naruto can you help Yamanaka with hers? Clearly she's never used it as more than a hair tie,"

"I don't need," The fabric fell past her face. "Help," With a pout she roughly handed it to the blond and turned around. "Fine but don't,"

"Can I use it as a gag instead please? Because if she doesn't stop talking I may burst a blood vessel," He complained as he tied a simple but effective knot under the girl's ponytail. 

"When the time comes, i.e. tonight, yes, since it'll be for everyone else's benefit, but until then, no, just leave her be, Sasuke how you feeling?" Izuku nodded

"Alright, why?"

"Think you can handle one Shadow clone?"

"Yeah," On cue a second Sasuke appeared.

"Wonderful, Temari are you comfortable with him carrying you again?"

"Sure, makes for pleasant conversation at least," The third blonde shrugged.

"Wonderful, Naruto?" The greenette turned to his adopted brother.

"Just two clones?"

"I'll take the other three so pick your favorites," Sakura, Gaara and Ino were all scooped into his arms. "Alright, Choji, Shikamaru, Kankuro," Izuku picked up the boys, "We'll travel until nightfall, then we'll make camp and assign guards, after that we can have some dinner and rest, if all goes well we'll make the tower in two days," The Naru-clones and Izu-clones nodded, the Sasu-clone simply grunted while the original Sasuke and Naruto moved to stand either side of the original Izuku. The only trace was a breeze that came several seconds late.

Naruto sat out on watch again as the others slept in their tents. They had arranged it in a U-shape with a campfire in the centre. Izuku had produced fish from somewhere and grabbed several branches to act as skewers. The blond was cooking himself two on the smoldering remains of the fire. He remembered the look of bittersweet joy in his brother's eyes as the fish was cooked. 

**'You do not need to worry about him Naruto, that kit is stronger than anyone realizes'**

'I know Kurama, I just, I worry with how he acts I feel like he is forcing himself to be okay, like there is something he is lying to himself about'

**'He once wanted to return to his old world once he was powerful enough to protect people but he seems to act more and more like a true shinobi, perhaps he does not want to return anymore and is suffering from his internal conflict'**

'That maybe Kurama but still, what if he goes back and the things he was training to protect have already gone? Like that Kacchan thing, what if he goes back and it has been destroyed? Would he come back home? What if he goes back and likes that world better than this one?'

**'Those are questions for later days, for now we should focus on getting your exams done and then getting you to Hokage'**

'Thanks for the talk Kurama'

**'Anytime Kit, now I am going for a nap, organizing all the clone memories is so tedious'**

'Shuddup and sleep you great wuss' Naruto mentally laughed as he kept his back to the fire. Something in his gut was telling him the meeting with Orochimaru was only the beginning of something, especially since the Sound Nin had been on his side. A blanket was draped over his shoulders from behind. "Sakura, again? You should be,"

"I know but getting caught out twice has put me on edge, we can't relax right now," The pinkette sat down next to him again.

"I've got shadow clones following every team they can find, if anyone gets too close to us I'll turn them around or knock 'em out,"

"You must be exhausted using your chakra so much,"

"Honestly I haven't used more than five clones any longer than a couple minutes, holding the nine for a few hours is going to be headache inducing, but I should be okay, Kurama helps me shift through it all,"

"Oh, cool, I've been practicing the Shadow Clone jutsu too, I can only make one and even then I'm super tired because of it,"

"The technique literally splits your chakra into equal pieces so I'm not surprised, what you need to do is increase your reserves, just use up your chakra over and over again and your reserves will get bigger over time,"

"But what about my Strength of a Hundred Seal?"

"Focus some of your chakra there, remember it requires immense control, not because you're doing something complex but because you're always focusing some of your chakra into the seal, even when preforming other jutsu you're focusing some chakra into the Seal, so just keep doing that while using the chakra you aren't redirecting and your reserves will grow as well," He turned to the fire and grabbed his skewer before facing back into the forest again. The silence was both comforting and worrying, He understood Sakura's view completely, being jumped, twice in the span of a few minutes no less, had put everyone on edge. Naruto found himself unwilling to sleep for that exact reason. Orochimaru didn't exactly strike the image of someone who just gives up and flees. The man was deceitful to say the least. The blond knew that a fight against him would never be fair unless _you_ instigated it. Orochimaru would use traps, poison and numbers at his discretion to assure his victory. Izuku had said as they bounced between the trees.

_"Relying so heavily on deceit and tricks is a testament to his fading powers, before he could go toe to toe with Grampa Third and almost tie, but that won't fly now, if anything he'll use some sort of seal to put Gramps at a disadvantage before the battle even begins and then cut off his backup while calling for his own to outnumber and overpower Gramps,"_

That alone caused Naruto's stomach to knot, there was definitely going to be something else happening with the rogue nin. But until then he just couldn't be sure of what and how to fight back.

"Why do you think he went after Sasuke and Izuku?"

"Their eyes," There was almost no other reason.

"To take them?" Naruto bit a piece of his fish and ate before responding.

"Yes and no, Orochimaru uses a jutsu that only he and a select few know, that allows him to take over a person's body by suppressing their soul, Izuku knows more about it than I or Sasuke do, bro likes to study everything he can, but anyway, Orochimaru takes over a person almost completely, killing him is almost impossible due to his body being changed to better match his snake theme,"

"Gross,"

"Yeah and Izuku said that something like every three years, Orochimaru takes another body, effectively making him immortal, but anyway, he'd be able to use their Sharingan,"

"Can't he just steal them?"

"He could but then he couldn't use them properly, like Kakashi can't, if he took over the body he'd have complete control over them," He took another bite. "So his method gives better results for him, only problem is his victim needs to be still long enough for the jutsu to work, Izuku knows more about it than I do but from what I can tell he either takes hie victim by surprise with speed or restrains them, since Izuku and Sasuke are too fast for him, he'd have to restrain them or make them slower,"

"Which is why he offered Sasuke power, in order to be able to get past his defenses and then take over his body," He nodded at the pinkette's deduction. "Can we up my training?"

"What? Where'd that come from?"

"Well if Sasuke is going to be targeted by Orochimaru I need to be strong enough to cover him, otherwise you're stuck having to decide between them in a battle,"

"I guess if you want to, but it's going to be difficult," He turned around and grabbed the second fish and handed it to Sakura, "You should eat more firstly,"

"Oh, uh, no thanks, I don't like fish,"

"Are you allergic?" Izuku's voice made them both jump, "I've heard everything, Sakura I'm touched by your concern," The duo went crimson, "Are you allergic to fish?" He repeated.

"Uh, no?"

"Then you're going to eat it, ninja can't be fussy eaters, you eat what you can on missions and that's everything you're not allergic to," Izuku pulled out a scroll and a cooked fish appeared from the paper. "Tenten still doesn't know you can seal hot food and it'll retain the heat," The greenette grinned.

"Tenten?"

"Oh yeah, the daughter of the weapon shop owner, she's good with weapons but her form and general taijutsu is lacking, I've been helping her in hand to hand while she teaches me Fuinjutsu, you may have a knack for it considering your birthright but goddamn do you suck at teaching it Naruto," The adopted Uzumaki sat on his other side and began eating his fish. "I was in the same boat as you Sakura, I hated fish when I started training, Itachi and Shisui then made all of my meals contain fish in some way, grilled, fried, smoked, raw, roasted, hell sometimes they'd make me catch the creatures and cook them myself,"

"Now?"

"Sushi and smoked salmon are some of my favorite snacks, sure katsudon and ramen are great when you can make them but on missions? I don't think I've eaten much else except fish based foods," Sakura hesitantly nibbled at the fish.

"No, Sakura, bite it, it won't be as bad as you think," Naruto chuckled. "I despised fish too, normally because when I'd have it it was rotten, until Izuku began cooking, force fed me fish for a week straight,"

"Seriously?" She giggled at him

"Yeah and don't get us started on Sasuke and pork,"

"I don't get how you can't like pork," Izuku groaned "Like seriously the guy wouldn't look twice at pork when I cooked it,"

"Until you chained him to a chain and forced him to eat it or you'd slice his book up,"

"In my defense, he needs the protein, plus he loved bacon so hating pork made no sense,"

"You really are a family aren't you?" Sakura was chuckling, almost laughing. "Izuku you care so much about these guys,"

"Well yeah, they accepted me, let me be me, the first people that did as far as I can remember,"

"Can you remember much about your old family?"

"Only snippets, getting left behind on a trip and spending hours walking home, since they didn't realize or care, never getting anything on my birthday because the creature that shared it was so special,"

"You had a sister?"

"Sister implies she's human, she's not," His voice dropped to a new flat, "She's a savage, or was, as was her friend, they gave me more bruises than training," A pause, "After I began seeing results from my training my moms tried forcing me to stop, because I was going to make _her_ feel bad since she never trained,"

"What garbage," Naruto spat, sure he had the village hate him, but to have your _family_ hate you? He was glad Izuku was here now.

"Last thing I remember was a fight with mother,"

"Which one?" Sakura leant closer to Izuku, coincidentally onto Naruto.

"Mother was the blonde, mom was the greenette, I digress, mother and I had a fight because _her_ friend tried attacking me after school since my training had become so prominent, I was taller than everyone, stronger and faster than those who specialized in it, hell I was even smarter because I studied while training,"

"Seriously?"

"Well when you're stood upside down on a branch for several hours trying to find your limits, you get pretty bored, not to mention situational awareness, I _had_ to be distracted to train that,"

"And she attacked you for that?"

"She tried attacking me for that, claimed I was looking down on her or something, trying to be better than her, I just said it wasn't hard being better than the class flunky who couldn't run a hundred metres without panting, that annoyed her and she tried attacking me, I used a single kunai, gave her a single cut right here," Naruto watched his brother drag his finger across the right side of his face halfway up, just under his eye almost to his ear. "Next day I finally face my family at dinner and mother calls me a villain, after they battered and bruised me that bitch had the gall to call me a villain," Izuku cursing around Naruto meant something was extraordinarily infuriating. "So I left and I've never looked back, best decision of my life,"

"And that's all you remember?"

"All I care to remember and don't forget I was seven when I left, that means I can still forget all of it before I return, if I even return,"

"Why wouldn't you?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Who'd willingly return to the place their own family much less the rest of the world scorned them for something out of their control, no offence Narubro," He buffered for a second.

"Okay yeah, no, the village was one thing, but at least I had some people at my back, Gramps Third, Sasuke, you, Shikamaru, hell even Iruka sensei was supporting me, but your own family, the one group of people that are meant to protect you? Yeah, there's no comparison bro, no-one's going to stop you from staying if that's truly what you want to do," 

"I know but I just can't help but think there's something I'm forgetting, something genuinely important,"

"Well those answers are for the questions of another day, for now let's just focus on passing these exams," Naruto shook his head.

"Right, you two head to bed, I'll watch for now, my shadow clones should be with yours now anyway," The skewer was snapped, then again and thrown aside to disappear into the branches. The young boy sat down and pulled his notebook from nowhere again.

"Are you using Fuinjutsu for your notebook? Is that not counterproductive?"

"It would be if it was just the notepad, or the scroll was actually large," The greenette held up a scroll that would've fit into his closed fist. "I fit the pencils and sketching kits in here, now bed you two," Naruto nodded and dismissed all of his clones. The rush of information made his head throb but he knew Kurama would help him, especially if they slept. 

"Sakura can you help him? The group dismissal is going to leave him with a headache for a while,"

"How come you don't get headaches?" Naruto whined. 

"Because my mind is naturally more ordered than yours, and I've been using the shadow clones more often than you to find my limits,"

"I accept the second half but that first half it utter garbage,"

"I'll never tell," Izuku almost laughed as Naruto stood up. And immediately clutched his head.

"Woah, head rush, hoo, okay,"

"Sakura, please,"

"Got it," An arm around his shoulders and a second on his upper left arm. "Come on big guy, let's get you laid down,"

"Yeah, yeah that sounds good," His vision was hazy and footsteps barely straight. "Yeah, bed sounds good right about now,"

"Stay with him until he falls asleep please Sakura? He'll be uneasy while he organizes his thoughts,"

"Sure, you gonna be okay?"

"Me?" Naruto was out of it, but not enough to watch his brother look into the sky, "I don't know, but for now, I'll be fine,"

* * *

Branches and brambles broke under the figure as they tore their way through the forest. The sun was rising and they were close to running out of time. Breathing heavily they knew that had two options. Option one: dump the bag weighing their back down, using it as a diversion while they would be able to run faster. Option two: keep the bag, the extra weight and risk getting caught before they could get there. "A door in the trees," Their voice was hoarse and rough. Sweat dripped from their forehead down their withered frame. "Man I regret grabbing breakfast," They murmured as they kept running. The sound of twigs breaking was matched with the last noise they wanted to hear.

Sirens.

"Fuck!" Option one it was, the bag didn't contain anything of importance anyway, just the few clothes that fit and an extra thermos of water. Slinging from one shoulder the runner held it in one arm and threw it with all the might their malnourished arm could muster. Fortunately it was just far enough to send any pursuers in the wrong direction long enough for the figure to escape. Thorns tore at the ill-fitting black shirt and stolen cargo pants. 

"He's got to be somewhere nearby,"

"Of course he fucking does! Damn Deku couldn't run pissing distance!" Silencing his anxious cries the figure kept running. Away from the voices. But they were right. The somewhat identified Deku couldn't keep running, his dangerously underweight body and generally unfit physique meant the two chasing him would always catch him. However they didn't know where the finish was this time. Granted neither did Deku but at least they had some idea. The note from their oldest friend had given some direction. Taking it out of a pocket they read it again.

_In the forest we spent hours in together_

_Grows two trees with branches woven like threads in a summer breeze._

_The threads entwine and bend to an arc._

_There is the door to another world, a door in the trees._

Deku knew it had to be close by know. Only he and his oldest friend had been far into the forest. He skidded to a stop. Officially he were lost. Unofficially, Deku knew where to go. It was making the unofficial official that was the hard part. Red eyes scanned the woodland around him. A small clearing. Bingo! "I found his bag!" Shit. Wasting no time the fleeing figure sprinted into the clearing and looked towards the darkened area. There was two trees growing side by side on their left. Branches were mixing together just higher than an average door frame and curved downwards after growing skywards halfway along the gap. "He's got to be this way!" No choices now. Deku ran at the arch and almost dove into it. As he crashed to the ground he quickly got up and hid behind a tree waiting. His heartbeat pounded in his ears. It took several seconds for him to realise, that was the only noise. There were no sirens, no voices. The air itself felt different in this new forest. Collapsing for a moment Deku began catching his breath and reached into a pocket of his cargo pants. Inside it was several snack bars and a bottle of water. He'd skipped lunch for the last few days to save up all the food he was carrying now, the bottle he'd stolen from his so-called home. It was warm in this forest, even though is was the crack of dawn. Using the bushes to hide his meek form Deku curled up. He could rest here for a moment. Three shadowed figures leapt over his head faster than he could perceive, both parties remained blissfully ignorant of each other. Well, almost.

"Hey Hinata, did you sense anything?" A brunette asked, he had red markings below his eyes.

"No, why Kiba?" A purple haired girl with milky eyes responded.

"No reason, just smelt something weird probably some lost tools or something," The three continued on, unaware of the slumbering figure under the foliage silently.


	8. The starting line?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Congrats, you all pass, until the week ends you'll be living in the tower while other contestants show up,"
> 
> "Hey Naruto, can we start training now?"
> 
> "INO?!"  
> "Of course it's Yamanaka,"
> 
> "Yeah we passed an abandoned campsite early this morning, Akamaru thought he smelled something,"  
> "Something?"

Naruto woke up groggily with a weight beside him. Groggily he looked over to see Sakura sleeping peacefully besides him. Normally he'd panic about the situation however Sakura was laying in her own blanket with her own pillow and separated by several sheets and their own clothes. He smiled until he realized the weight he'd been feeling was her _taking his_ blanket. Shivering slightly he sat up and decided that he was now awake.

**'No duh Kit'**

'Oh go back to sleep Kurama'

 **'Gladly'** The tailed beast fell silent. Silently getting up and leaving the tent Naruto looked around. Everyone else was still asleep in their closed tents, except Izuku, who was currently sat cross legged on the log past the campfire.

"Morning bro,"

"You been up all night?"

"No, I went to sleep when the fire died, sunrise woke me up,"

"It's barely rising now,"

"Correct,"

"You just woke up too huh?"

"About two minutes ago to be precise, I decided to meditate and see if there's any change in chakra nearby," A momentary pause, "About what I said last night,"

"It's cool,"

"No it's not, those people, they aren't my family and they never were, I never should have said that, you and Sasuke are my family, they never were, I may have blood relations to them but they are no family,"

"So what changes did you detect?"

"Nothing much, no-one closing in, but Hinata's team overshot a hidden chakra signature, it's incredibly weak, probably just a dropped scroll or something but it seemed familiar for the briefest moments, but it hasn't moved at all so it can't be a living thing, like I said, most likely a dropped scroll, not worth the detour,"

"Alright, should I wake the others?" 

"Sounds good," Izuku weaved his hands before putting his left hand ahead of his face, his fingers all crooked. Breathing gently a small stream of fire formed at the tip of his index finger and curved into a small bird before turning around and zooming towards the unlit pile of branches Izuku must've replaced before going to sleep. Immediately the fire crackled to life as the bird touched it.

"What was that?"

"Fire style, Warming Phoenix jutsu, derived from the Phoenix Flower jutsu Itachi taught me, instead of making several chakra controlled flames I make a single controllable fireball that lasts longer and burns hotter, it requires a little less chakra and has more movement,"

"Pretty neat," Naruto held his hand to the fire for a moment, letting his body adjust to the dewy morning air. A light fog sat in the breeze, peppering surfaces with condensation. "I take it breakfast is more fish?"

"I had a clone go to a nearby river and catch enough yes, I can use wood release to get us some skewers while you wake everyone up,"

"I'm already up," Sasuke's voice tiredly joined the mix, "You two aren't exactly good whisperers,"

"We weren't whispering,"

"My point,"

"Anyway, you two wake the others up, we're heading out as soon as everyone has eaten, same formation as yesterday," Both boys nodded.

"Well, what do we have here?" A Leaf Jounin stood at the tower, guarding the locked entrance. "Ten examinees at once?"

"We formed a large team, circumventing the disqualification rules," Naruto put his hand behind his back. "We have five scrolls, that's one per pair," Izuku, Sasuke, Sakura and Gaara followed his lead and handed the scrolls over.

"Really? That's a first, teams normally just hand over three scrolls,"

"Is there a problem with our solution?"

"No, not at all, it's just the first I've seen anything like it," The door was opened up, "Congrats, you guys all pass, now until the week is over you've got to live in the tower, just to make sure all partakers of the exam make it to the tower or are found by the Jounin doing sweeps for the injured,"

"Alright!" Choji pumped his fist "We did it,"

"Head on up guys," The Jounin moved out of the way and Naruto led the squad into the massive building. 

"Naruto care to do some training later?" Izuku asked impassively.

"Sorry bro, I was thinking of helping Sakura,"

"What?!" The pinkette snapped to attention and stiffened, "You mean no break?" Naruto grinned and Izuku began laughing.

"Oh no, kami no Sakura, the three of us never stopped training, you wanna keep up you're going to need to work twice as hard as we are to even come close to catching up," His brother answered. Sakura pouted at the greenette before turning to Naruto.

"Let's go start right now then!"

"Sakura, wait!" He let himself be dragged away from the group as Izuku and Sasuke waved him away to his resigned fate. The last thing he heard was Sasuke denying Ino her training request while Izuku began talking to the Sand Siblings. "You want to start training right now? We spent the whole day travelling, don't you need to rest?"

"Nope! Izuku said it himself, I need to work twice as hard so that means no stopping!" The determination in her voice alone was almost enough to sway him. Almost.

"You'll hurt, a lot,"

"Don't care,"

"You won't sleep much,"

"Insomnia is the life of a ninja,"

"You'll need to eat tons,"

Pause.

"Y'know instead of starving yourself like you've been doing,"

Three.

Two.

One.

"How did you,"

"How didn't I know Sakura?" He countered her question before it even finished. "You were all too used to the effects of hunger on the body by our bell training, not once did me, Sasuke or Izuku see you eat more than a third than you should've, you started to show symptoms of severe dehydration before the exams, remember how your water bottle never seemed to run out, even though you'd put the minimum possible in?"

"I, yeah, what was that about?"

"I put a seal on your bottle to fill it with water from the reservoir in my apartment, you should have a few more days of it,"

"How, but my figure?"

"Sasuke eats at least nine times a day to maintain his muscle mass, granted they aren't banquets but you could call them each a separate meal, Izuku eats three times more than Choji to stay healthy with his workout, eating won't change your figure so long as you exercise in a way that matches it, so our newest training session," A notepad and pencil appeared from nowhere, a skill he had picked up from Izuku, "Creating Sakura's diet of determination," 

His left hand dropped palm down to smack a fist from his chest while his right hand rose to catch another. His right leg came up to block the side kick aimed to knock him over. Naruto stood on one foot, his arms still in position. Sakura's left fist struggled in his grip while her body wobbled to keep balance. "To put it simply, you're still slow, your power has increased nicely but you're still not at the rise you should be on," A brief pause "No prizes for guessing why ei-,"

"I know, my whole starvation to look good thing was a crappy idea,"

"Language," Naruto bit his tongue as Sakura blinked at him. "It just slipped out,"

"Is there anything I can do to improve right now?" They both relaxed.

"Results will always take time, on the plus you are faster than you were, the problem is you're still slow," A crestfallen look, "But I suppose it isn't fair to really judge you by my abilities, instead we'll go by how much I hold back,"

"Is that supposed to make me feel good?"

"He was barely using a percent when you first sparred," Izuku's voice interrupted. "Now he's on about two and a half, which is remarkable progress, when we spar against Shiakamaru and the like we could barely get away with a percent," The praise did a lot to lift her spirits. "But do not think you can rest on your laurels, the moment you know you can defeat your enemy is the moment your enemy defeats you,"

"Uh, what?"

"What he means is, when you think you're better you start getting lazy, laziness breeds mistakes, mistakes get you killed," Naruto shook his head, "Izubro likes to speak in proverbs he pulls out of nowhere,"

"You're good at translating,"

"I call it Izugarble, because he speaks garble," A genuine giggle from Sakura was well worth the cuff around the back of his head.

"If I can speak bluntly," He coughed "And I don't mean to offend you here," Naruto shook his head and smiled support to Sakura. "You're slow, not only that you are weak, you waste time with slow, loud attacks, they certainly do damage I won't deny but that is if they hit, and that is a big, big, if, firstly work on being silent, pushing some of your chakra into the space around you will deaden most noise, like how Naruto or Sasuke can jump from branches silently, that's going to be your first mission, learning the ninja art of silence, then Naruto can work on your speed with you and-," Naruto's eyes flicked around the room as Izuku paused.

"You sense it too?"

"Yes, door, far left, not much movement, definitely alive, definitely familiar but I didn't care to memorize all our classmates signatures," A kunai was drawn, "It could even be an enemy from the written portion," Protectively stepping in front of Sakura, the blond bared his fangs. "You can either come out now or we will find you!" The sheer indifference in his voice worried Naruto, would he really hunt someone down just for eavesdropping? "You forget Naruto, most missions involve information gathering, where better to get it than the source? Come out, now!" A figure stepped from the doorway with her hands raised.

"INO?!" Both the blond and pinkette yelled in surprise.

"Of course it'd be Yamanaka, Sasuke is in his room right now, reading a book as usual, hopefully Hatake didn't give him any porn," The greenette shuddered.

"Um, actually I was kinda looking for you guys,"

"They're all yours," Izuku smirked as he leant to body flicker away.

"What are you guys,"

"Negh!" A noise somewhere between a strangled cat and a siren as Izuku jumped an entire foot in the air. "Gaara! Kami boy, do you want to give me a heart attack?!" Naruto laughed at his brother, scaring him like that was almost impossible for anyone to do it.

"No, Sasuke made a bet that I couldn't,"

"Uchiha!" Izuku called out to the air. "What can we do for you anyway?"

"You wanted to see if you could replicate my sand control, there isn't really any better time to do it," The greenette contemplated for a moment and nodded. Naruto watched him turn to the door. 

"Oh, Yamanaka, I forgot you were here," The blonde's face fell. "What can we do for you?"

"I was hoping you guys could train me as well? I saw how you guys fought in the forest and,"

"No," Naruto shook his head, his brother nodded in agreement. "Sorry Ino but we can't train you,"

"Why not?" As he went to open his mouth the greenette lifted a hand and took over.

"You only desire to be a ninja to impress Sasuke, you lack any training in jutsu's beside your family technique, your taijutsu is subpar, your athleticism is alright, barely, your accuracy is so bad I'd be more worried for Naruto when you're throwing something at me,"

"H-hey,"

"To put it as bluntly as possible," Izuku held up three fingers, "You are too weak, too slow and too superficial for us to train you,"

"W-w-whatever!"

"That being said, we could use this time to bring you up to levels we can train," He looked over his shoulder, "Right Naruto?"

"Yeah, absolutely, we could whip you into a shape we can build on," Ino seemed overcome with joy and smiled. "That being said there's going to be a few rules,"

"Like what?" The blond shook his head sympathetically.

"Number one, you complain, you're out, any and all complaints will not be tolerated, number two, you stay on point, if you ever flake or try and get out of it we will never train you again, number three this is the worst one," Naruto smirked, "There is no such thing as a break, once you start a training session you do not rest, take a minute or otherwise until the day's session is over,"

"That means you need to stop starving yourself unless you want to die,"

"Huh?"

"You heard us," Naruto folded his arms, "Sakura could you just stand next to her for a second?"

"Uh, sure," The pinkette nodded before walking over to her old/ex-friend. The two stood at an identical height with the same kind of stance and body type. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"Ino, I'm going to give you a dietary plan, you are to follow it to the letter, I don't care what you think you will follow it understood?"

"Yosh!"

"Good, now go and get some food,"

"What?"

"I'm not training you on an empty stomach, go and eat, and I don't mean a single leaf of spinach or something, I mean actual food, go and eat some ramen with beef or a type of meet, because you're going to need protein, while you're at it eat some bread too, you'll need a lot of carbs,"

"Are you mad? My figure will,"

"Stay exactly the same because we're going to be making you exercise to use the calories you eat, how much do you think I eat a day Yamanaka?" Naruto could _feel_ his brother narrowing his eyes.

"I don't know? Three bowls of ramen a day?"

"Three times more than Choji on his best day, spread over nine or ten meals a day,"

"WHAT?!"

"Muscle mass Ino, I need to maintain and increase it so I put more in to get more out," His head flicked "Let's go Gaara, Naruto it's all you," With that the two flickered away.

"Damn you Izubro," Naruto grumbled as he stared at the empty space his brother had just occupied. A shadow clone appeared beside him. "Ino, you're going to eat and I'm going to make sure you do," The clone walked over to her and grabbed her wrist. "And we won't stop until you're unable to eat anymore," The blonde seemed to stare in dismay before a loud growl was heard. "But don't eat too quickly, got it?" The pinkette stared at the original Naruto. "Now Sakura, we'll start of with some warm up sparring, ready?" He struck a battle pose.

"YOU GOT DUNKED ON BIIISSSHH!" Izuku's voice radiated through the tower. Naruto paused, catching Sakura's ankle as she tried to kick his head. There was no way they were able to do that here. Izuku had only just found a place large enough back in the village, the tower surely didn't.

"WHAT IS DUNKING?!" Gaara's cry of confused frustration consolidated Naruto's concerns. 

"Uh, Naruto, could you uh, let me down please?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry," He realized that during his thought process he'd been holding Sakura up by her ankle. Letting the pinkette drop he grabbed her wrist. "Come on, we're going to investigate that noise," They trudged through the hall ways of the tower and up several flights of stairs. Naruto was following Shukaku's chakra since Izuku was hiding his perfectly after some serious practice. They two arrived in a large sparring hall that had several lines drawn on the floor. On both the left and right walls a single hoop had been attacked by some piping with a flat piece of wood mounted on the back of each hoop. Gaara stood an arm from Shukaku trying to prevent Izuku from passing him. The greenette was bouncing something between his hand and the floor. It looked to be a bomb ball painted the same orange as Naruto's jumpsuit, however it wasn't detonating.

"What are they doing?" Sakura mumbled as they watched Izuku lean out one way, the ball in his far hand before rapidly pulling his arm back and spinning on his heel. His body revolved around Gaara, who had leant towards the ball in an attempt to take it from Izuku. The moment he was behind the redhead Izuku had leapt and lifted the ball over his head. Flicking his hand the orange ball soared up and into the net on the left wall before hitting the floor. Izuku cheered and celebrated while Gaara seemed to cry in confusion, Shukaku's chakra gave off a similar vibe. 

"You can't be serious," Naruto walked over to Gaara and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Go sit down Gaara, I got him," Izuku was bouncing the ball on the floor between his hands.

"Oh so you wanna play?" The greenette gloated, only he, Naruto and Sasuke knew what the game was.

"Basketball?" A game Izuku remembered from his old world, he'd written several of them down in a journal to bring to Konoha over the years they had trained. It had taken ages to find a place suitable for any of them and basketball was the first. They'd managed to find a cheap building and hollowed it out before converting it into an indoor play area, or 'court' as Izuku called it. There were many rules to the game but the boys played with only three. The ball must bounce with every other step, you can't fight your opponent using any form of jutsu or otherwise, and anything inside the half circle around the net was two points, while anything on the outside was three. "Really?"

"What? Chicken?" He caught the basketball which was named after the game instead of the other way around. Izuku smiled, "Come on, it's been a while since we actually had fun training?"

"Oh this won't be training," Naruto shook his head, "It's gonna be a murder," He threw the ball up. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Six clones appeared to give him a full team. Izuku did the same and now the court was full. The real Naruto caught the ball as it came back down, bouncing it straight away. 

"Playing a game and you didn't invite me? I'm hurt," Sasuke mocked offense as he walked into the middle of the court. "Alright, I've got the timer going, let the match, start!" Naruto opened it up by charging forwards, the ball bounced with each step. As an Izu-clone stepped to block the ball was suddenly thrown to a Naru-clone. The blond team slowly began breaching the defense of the green until Naruto was facing the real Izuku just in front of the net.

"Which way big guy? Which way?" Naruto mocked as he leant both ways, keeping the ball just far enough away from Izuku's reach.

"You can't cross me son," Izuku boasted as Naruto lifted his hands over his head. He jumped. Naruto didn't. The blond dropped his form into a low crouch and ducked around Izuku. Once he had passed his brother, Naruto put all of his power into one leg and jumped up, lifting the ball above his head. The net grew closer and he dropped his hands until his fingers wrapped around the ring and the ball hit the ground. He hung for a second before dropping to the floor.

"Oh yeaahh," Making his voice a joking growl as he drew out the 'yeah'.

"Woooh!" Sakura cheered, Naruto knew she had no idea but she was still being supportive.

"So you wanna handicap?" A clone disappeared, "Sakura, come on over, we'll teach you how to play," The pinkette paused and stared.

"If you have Sakura, I'll take Gaara," Both ninja-in-training walked over to the court. Izuku handed the ball to Gaara as Naruto gave Sakura a brief description of the rules.

"So, we need to stop them getting that ball in our hoop and if we can we'll put it in their hoop over there, we can't use jutsu to trick them or attack them, keep bouncing the ball as much as you move, see the line on the floor?"

"Yeah?"

"We get three points behind it, two points inside of it,"

"Alright, I think I got it,"

"Awesome, let's get going then," Naruto nodded to Sasuke, who was now holding the ball. Izuku and Naruto stood in front of the other as Sasuke stood between them. The ball rose into the air.

"Begin!"

Naruto sat down before leaning backwards to lay down. "I believe that's the game,"

"What are you guys doing?" He looked over to see Ino with his shadow clone leading a group into the hall.

"It's a game, from where Izuku's from, we've got an area set up in the village to play too," The group was composed of the other Konoha 12 and the pair of Sand siblings. "Why are you all here?"

"We heard a lot of yelling and scuffling," Shikamaru shrugged "The noise was troublesome,"

"I was wondering where you two went, I finished eating like an hour ago," The clone was dismissed and Naruto frowned before laughing.

"Yeah I suppose after starving yourself for a while a single bowl is about your limit, don't worry Ino, we'll get you on the up and up by the end of the week and that's a promise,"

"I came to find Uzumaki Izuku," Kankuro held his hands in his pockets.

"Right here, Izuku will do fine,"

"You expressed an interest in puppetry earlier, would you care to learn? Kazekage gave me permission to share the basics,"

"So you're up for some advance taijutsu lessons?" The greenette kept his voice level but Naruto could see from a world away his brother was a kid in a candy store right now.

"Sounds like a fair trade, but you will need to make your own puppet,"

"I've had a shadow clone crafting one while I trained, it should be in the outside training grounds now,"

"You're learning puppetry as well? Aren't the Shadow Paralysis and Mind Transfer enough?" Shikamaru shook his head. Izuku just chuckled.

"Where I'm from, none of you can go, so when I return I'll need to train my own squad, found my own village, not only that I need to be strong enough to fight every threat out there, so I'll learn every jutsu ever and be the Sage of Six Paths of that world,"

"You are something else dope," Sasuke smirked, "Well, since we got time, I wanna practice the Rasendori,"

"And I need to create my own chakra infused Rasengan," Naruto supplemented. "First I gotta control my wind chakra first,"

"NAMIKAZE!" A new voice rocked the air. It was punctuated by the clashing of steel. Naruto looked to his left wide-eyed to see Izuku with a tanto in a reverse grip blocking a sword aimed to take his head from his shoulders. The wielder was a black haired girl their age, dressed in a red garb, missing the right sleeve and very basic flak jacket like the ones chunin and jounin wore. She also wore fishnet tights and a skirt the same red color as her shirt. "Get out of my way," The swords wobbled as she tried to force her way past. Izuku was silent, a casual movement sent the kunoichi across the room. The ten genin behind them were whispering about Izuku's speed.

"I didn't even see him move," Temari whispered. Sasuke just frowned and looked between the facing opponents.

"Minato Namikaze acted as anyone would in a war, speaking of the Third Ninja World War is over,"

"Minato Namikaze killed platoons of Stone nin, he will go through the pain he inflicted when his son is,"

"Minato Namikaze is dead," That caused a pause. "He died twelve years ago when the kyuubi no kitsune attacked Konohagakure and sealed the nine tails into his only son minutes after he was born," The sword leveled at the group began shaking. "What? Questioning your conviction? Resolve not strong enough to kill someone who suffered as it is?"

"As the,"

"Lord Third forbade anyone from discussing Naruto and anything to do with the circumstances of his birth or his parents, as it stands right now I'm going against everything he's ever told me," There was dead silence. "Honestly if the ANBU heard about it they'd try kill me and everyone else in here for just mentioning it," Everyone except Izuku went pale. "But for now they don't know, since you attacked a shinobi on neutral grounds we could declare war against your village _again_ , do you really wish to do that?" The sword was fully wobbling now. "Could your village survive an onslaught from Konoha? If I am the standard Genin are held to what about the Chunin, Jounin, the ANBU? Naruto has suffered alienation from everyone save for seven people, one of them is dead, the other is a rogue, the other five are in this building, four of which are in this very room," As if on cue Sasuke, Shikamaru and Choji all stepped up beside Naruto. "The information I told you is enough to get you killed if you ever say a syllable of it ever again,"

"And what is to stop me telling the Tsuchikage?"

"Circumstance,"

"What?!"

"Tsuchikage-sama," He mocked, "I learned that Minato Namikaze is dead, how? Well, I uh, I tried to kill this Konoha boy that looked like him," His arm moved in a practiced movement until the tanto was almost upright in his hand. "And then I got my ass kicked by four shinobi that leapt to his aid, kind of causing the very war we're preparing for right now,"

"You would challenge us to war?"

"Challenge you?" In a dramatic show Izuku lifted his foot as if going to take a step. He was in front of the kunoichi before it touched the ground, his fist closing around her neck. "You make it sound like I could stop holding back for once,"

"I am the,"

"I don't care if you Onoki's first born second born or third grand-niece six times removed," Naruto watched his brother flick his wrist and send the girl stumbling, "The great fence-sitter has some level of wisdom, clearly you do not,"

"Even though you are correct," An old voice interrupted "I would appreciate it if you didn't threaten my grand daughter with war, since it is outside of your jurisdiction,"

"Onoki," Naruto knew that voice and he tensed, that voice belonged to,"

"Hiruzen, I would like to make it known my granddaughter's actions do not reflect that of the Stone village, we are quiet enjoying the peace, this was simply children being childish,"

"No Onoki, playing ninja in the park is childish and while I may accept that the actions do not reflect your village, attacking a shinobi on neutral grounds is cause for war, I'm afraid Uzumaki is right,"

"You're goddamn right I'm right, I can't remember a time I was goddamn wrong," Izuku crossed his arms, the tanto had disappeared somehow.

"Izuku that is enough,"

"How and why did you two come here?"

"Kurotsuchi never checked in with her team for lunch, we were worried something had happened to her, since her last sighting was in the building we wanted it searched and since Kurotsuchi is Onoki's granddaughter, we decided to do it ourselves,"

"Fair," He shrugged. "Kurotsuchi, was it?"

"What's it to you?"

"Uzumaki Izuku, just Izuku will do, I'm the blonde's adopted brother," His index finger tapped his neck. "And we've learned a few of Namikaze's jutsu," Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the girl's neck get covered by a black marking. Both Onoki and Grampa Third stared in shock. "For want of a better phrase," She pulled a mirror from nowhere and inspected her neck, only to gasp.

"Tag you're it,"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

"Nothing dangerous, it's a simple technique marker for the Flying Raijin Jutsu, since we aren't at war there is an opportunity to be allies, this is essentially a saving grace for you, focus some chakra into the technique and I can be by your side instantly no matter where in the world I am in relation to you,"

"It is a way to sneak past our borders!"

"No it is a way of me coming to save my allies in times of crisis," Izuku corrected. Naruto coughed into his hand.

"While yes, he does use it to come to a person's aid, he originally marked you for attacking me so that if you were to try and fight us again, he could get to you and send you to any one of his markers before you could even blink, it is a relatively simple jutsu that requires a single hand seal the complexity arrives with the technique marker and the actual moving to the destination, we've studied this jutsu for a long time and the best way to describe it is a summoning jutsu,"

"You summon yourself to your kunai? That seems relatively simple," Onoki gawked. Izuku laughed.

"More like, summon the world to us, you see us appear somewhere, as if we are moving, but to us, it is the world that is moving, which is why it requires such strong chakra, not to mention the technique markers are fuinjutsu based seals that are three cells intrinsically linked to make the larger seal, not only that but you must know which technique marker you wish to move to, which is where the focus comes in," 

"You can't pick a single destination, you won't be in a single destination, you can have an arm over there, a leg over here and your head back where you started," Naruto chimed in. "Even then if you try and chain them together you need to have a strong focus and serious chakra control, otherwise you'll leave bits behind that you kinda need,"

"And how could you ever know all of this?" Kurotsuchi challenged.

"Well it turns out that even if your body is in pieces, it isn't in pieces, the mistake in the jutsu spreads you over space-time but you're still whole if that makes sense, and we found out because a my shadow clone didn't poof out of existence when his leg was the other side on Konoha and his torso was stuck in our apartment, for several hours, in fact he could still remotely control them, it just took a lot of energy," Izuku shrugged "Still he lasted until sunset and was able to fight once we gathered all of his pieces together," He sighed at the kunoichi staring kunai at him. Naruto shook his head.

"Izubro, let it out," Sasuke looked at him in bewilderment. Everyone in the room save for the three dropped to a knee, even the floating Onoki fell to the floor. Naruto felt his ears pop. Sasuke grunted signifying he was suffering something similar. In truth Izuku was letting his primal chakra radiate out to fill the room. The overwhelming pressure had caused everyone to unwillingly drop, Naruto and Sasuke were used to it since Izuku would meditate in his room and the whole apartment would become full of the power. If Naruto was being honest Izuku wasn't letting all of it out, if he did the room would being to fall apart. The ninja around him would all fall flat on the floor and even Sasuke and Naruto would be reduced to a knee. Kurama was wary of the chakra Izuku contained, since it appeared to limitless. As if on cue several ANBU attempted to enter the room.

Key word: _Attempted_

The moment they came to the door they all froze in place. Naruto just stared. Izuku folded his arms and the pressure began to lift slowly. "Let's make one thing clear here Kurotsuchi, while I am a man that won't use violence unnecessarily, I am also a man you won't want as an enemy," The kunoichi in question stomped over and stood staring him directly in the eye. A comical sight considering Izuku stood almost a full foot taller than her. Naruto came to the realization that he, Sasuke and Izuku were all taller than the ninja around them. Onoki and Gramps Third had shrunk due to age but the others were still at best a few inches shorter than the trio. Kurotsuchi continued to glare into Izuku's eyes angrily, almost challenging him to do something. Izuku looked back with an unreadable gaze before smirking. "Mine are bigger," The challenge was there, everyone saw it, everyone knew it, most already knew the outcome. Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes into a dangerous glare and frowned. His words had challenged her but everything else, from his posture to the way his eyes seemed to bore through her screamed at her to stand down. Naruto only knew that because the feeling coming from his brother made _him_ want to surrender.

"Are they?" Kurotsuchi growled. Naruto's face fell flat, Sasuke gave him an identical look. They knew Izuku, they knew Izuku's humor, what came next was.

"You wanna see?" Obvious. Kurotsuchi went bright red, Izuku remained cool and calculating. As Onoki and Third opened their mouths to interrupt both Naruto and Sasuke silently indicated to let this keep going. Miraculously the kunoichi composed herself and glared back to him.

"At least buy my dinner first," Absolute silence from the retort, even Izuku would have to-

"Sushi place, avenue by the parks in Konoha," Hold on.

"When?" This wasn't.

"Thursday next week," How was he.

"Alright," This shouldn't.

"It's a date," WHAT?!

"It is," Kurotsuchi turned on her heel and walked out of the room, Naruto looked between the two ninja in pure shock. He nearly went cross-eyed from looking in both directions. It was Kankuro who broke he silence.

"HOW THE FUCK?!" Izuku just turned to Onoki.

"She's strong, I like her,"

"I guessed," The Tsuchikage replied with a blanched face. "I guess peace is coming quicker than we anticipated Hiruzen,"

"I supposed it is Onoki," Third was just as shocked and numb. "I need to find a successor and fast, I'm getting too old for this codswallop,"

"As am I Sarutobi," Both old men pulled out pipes and left the room. There was silence until Kankuro decided to repeat himself.

"HOW THE FUCK?!"

"I can't believe they gave us a month between now and the fights," Naruto laid on the floor throwing a small ball to the ceiling repeatedly. 

"It's to allow us to recover from the week and get into top form," Izuku was practicing against a wooden dummy. It was segmented into three pieces with cylinders poking out of all three to act as arms and legs. Each piece rotated individually. He watched the greenette, knowing some chakra was being sent into the dummy to get it to spin autonomously. He was dressed in regular training gear, a loose top and baggy jogging bottoms. His feet were bare against the stone floor of the room. For a moment the only noise was Izuku's arms and hands thudding into the wood. "It also gives you time to train Sakura and Ino, hopefully they both make it through the preliminaries,"

"Yeah, otherwise I'm not that great a sensei,"

"You gotta be kidding me right? If those girls can last five minutes against their opponents it'll be a major improvement,"

"Unless it's each other,"

"Then it's just a war of attrition, one that Sakura would win,"

"You think?"

"I know, Sakura was slow to improve at the start, Ino won't be but even if she skips through a few stages, Sakura has a head start, to to mention her Strength of a Hundred Seal training inadvertently increases her stamina," He ducked under several arms and lifted his shin while sticking his arms in odd angles to deflect the arms of the segments. Everything reversed and swung back around. "Even if Ino was able to start the same training, she'd have to store fifty percent of her chakra for a few days to catch up to what Sakura has done over the months,"

"Wait, seriously? Couldn't she just put like three quarters in and be done with it?"

"Increasing doesn't exactly work like that Naruto, if you increase a group of fifty people by twenty percent you get sixty people but then the twenty percent becomes twelve people instead of ten, Sakura's been increasing her chakra reserves while storing it away, the five percent she stores today is bigger than the five yesterday and smaller than the five tomorrow, Ino would have to put her body through hell to catch up so quickly,"

"And you already know how to?"

"Of course,"

"So why not tell her? Or offer to help her?"

"Because it is for her to decide and her to listen, so I'll tell her when she decides to listen," Naruto smirked as he looked over to his brother, his arms and hands moving with the ball without thought. Until his wrist flicked and Izuku caught the ball while still practicing with the dummy. "And anyway, I have training to do,"

"Izubro, you gotta take a break at some point,"

"Danzo harvested a clan's worth of Mangekyou Sharingans, implanting them into his right eye and right arm, he almost had Shisui's if Itachi hadn't been close that day, I don't care how many times he uses Inzanami, I will bring him in to pay his dues and get Itachi pardoned, Shisui didn't die for this, and I won't let Itachi die a rogue," The dummy got faster.

"Izuku, you know the three of us,"

"Are going after him but I will be fighting him, I'm the Primal user, I will have the best,"

"Kurama, not to mention Sasuke is an Uchiha, that means he's got the natural power of the Sharingan, the three of us will be able to fight him,"

"And what of me?" Sakura knocked on the door, "I don't know who Danzo is but it he's done something against my teammates then he's got to answer to me too," A small fist pump from the pinkette. "You know that no matter what I'm part of team seven, we're going to find this Danzo and bring him to justice,"

"Justice will be him rotting in a cell, he needs to hurt first," Izuku growled.

"A slumber party without me? You guys really," Sasuke sighed as he entered the room. "Anyway, Izuku, you always remind me to not let the rage lead me,"

"But I never say don't let it motivate you, I've been pushing to beat the warhawk known as Danzo, he's got Sharingans galore and I'll rip each and every one out until he wishes I killed him,"

"Izuku, no," Naruto frowned, aggression wasn't an unnatural display for Izuku but this level, it was new.

"I could barely match Orochimaru, who didn't come close to Danzo, not to mention we'll have to tear our way through ROOT before we get to him,"

"ROOT?"

"A group of highly skilled ANBU that used to work for Konoha, but they don't anymore, they packed up and deserted with Danzo after the Uchiha massacre, we later discovered he was the cause, both of our Sensei's were Uchiha, one was Sasuke older brother, we lost them both due to the massacre,we hate Danzo and ROOT isn't much better than him,"

"Can you keep up with ANBU though?"

"Contrary to popular belief, Orochimaru is stronger than ANBU, honestly at this point, once the exams are over, I'm telling Sarutobi the four of us are going to be ANBU,"

"Telling him?"

"He isn't getting a choice, honestly the three of us could fight through the ANBU if we wanted to, remember we've broken into the Hokage office because we were bored, more than once,"

"But me too?"

"Well we can't leave our team mate behind now can we?" Naruto offered smiling widely. "Plus by the time we're done training you, you'll be ANBU no problem,"

"You're sure?"

"No but whenever Naruto says he's going to do something he has this way of bending reality so it happens, no matter what he says, or what he can do," Sasuke grunted. Sakura giggled again. "One time he said he'd hit a target in the centre with a kunai without looking," He suppressed a laugh.

"He made a thousand shadow clones and they all threw it at once, a creative solution but it looked so stupid," Izuku finished.

"Great, awesome, done mocking me?"

"You should know by now dude, as your best friend and brother respectively, Sasuke and I are never going to stop, just like we do for him and you two do for me,"

"Like the time you blew up your lunch after trying to seal it away?"

"Is that why there was rice in your hair for a week?!" Sakura turned to the greenette who shrugged.

"I still find a grain when I shower every now and then,"

"But it was months ago!"

"I know," He responded darkly, refusing to look anyone in the eye. "I don't like to talk about it," His mumbled response was barely audible. The other three descended into laughter and all began chattering about more light-hearted topics.

"AKAMARU, STOP!" The four all paused and looked for the source of the voice, eventually Sasuke decided to open the door. A small pup decided to charge in and begin smelling Izuku. The greenette seemed to shuffle in surprise and discomfort with Sasuke almost laughing and Sakura giggling quietly. Naruto however, stared at the pup named Akamaru and watched the door.

"Um," The Inuzuka heir charged into the room. "Care to explain why Akamaru is sniffing my thighs?"

"Uh, well," Kiba scratched the back of his head, "It's because he smelt something familiar in your-," Akamaru barked several times. Everyone watched the pup as Kiba shook his head. "There's no way he's what you smelt, he was the other side of the forest,"

"Uh, what?" More barking.

"You can't be sure because I know it's not him Akamaru!" A few growls and several barks. "Even if he was using a shadow clone, why wouldn't it react to us?" A very long growl. 

"What are you on-,"

"He could've easily taken the three of us by making more shadow clones, it wasn't him, even if the chakra scent was similar," Team Seven froze, a similar chakra scent, to Izuku? That meant one very bad thing.

"Wait, Inuzuka, he recognizes a part of my chakra scent?"

"Well, yeah, earlier this morning, we passed by this abandoned campsite," Izuku froze for the briefest of seconds, too quickly for anyone but Naturo who noticed and narrowed his eyes slightly. "And just past that we felt this chakra, it felt really weak, like a forest animal that hadn't eaten for a few weeks," Izuku's knuckles began going white. His hands were hidden under his scuffled clothing, hidden from everyone. Naruto's keen eyes kept scanning his brother for other signs of hidden panic. "But yeah we passed the camp and then Akamaru is adamant he smelled something,"

"Something?"

"Well, like I said it felt like an extremely underfed animal, and like it was trying to hide from everyone, everything, it was so still and afraid," Izuku got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Right well, after that revelation, I'm going to train, if your mutt,"

"OI!"

"Thinks I smell of a weak, dying animal, then I need to clearly improve everything about my abilities," That wasn't true at all. "So if you don't mind, I'm heading to the training rooms," He disappeared silently with the Flying Raijin and Naruto quietly sighed in his mind. A presence like Izuku's wasn't a bad thing, _if_ they had good intentions. The worry lay if the arrival had bad intentions, if they purposefully found whatever gate way Izuku stumbled through and planned an invasion. Naruto knew who his brother would stand with and that comforted him but the fact another like him had found their way into the Ninja world? That can't be a good sign. Sasuke and Sakura also got up while Kiba turned around.

"Leave him, this is something he's got to deal with by himself,"

"How can you say that? He's your brother!"

"Yes but there aren't many like him, in fact up until just now we thought he was the last slash only of his kind, so this is something he needs time to work on,"

* * *

Hunger. That was the first thing he knew. As soon as his eyes opened the first time the unavoidable, unmistakable pang of hunger ripped through his being. It took little effort to ignore it. After all he'd gone weeks on only a slice of bread sometimes At this point, hunger, it was a friend to him. But that went for double now since it'd be accompanying him until he found food, since his diversion worked, Deku had no food and barely any drink. Hell he barely knew how to hunt to it looked like he and hunger were in it for the long run together. Then the scent hit his nose and against better judgement, he followed it. Through the small brambles, ignoring the thorns. He curled round tree trunks, under branches, over fallen logs until he found it. A small camp area. For the first time since opening his eyes he took in his surroundings. It was a forest, not much to explain there but it was also the dark of night, meaning he'd slept a whole day. It was probably the most sleep he'd gotten in... Seven? Years. Ever since the disappearance he'd been plagued by night terrors of a twisted mangled body. Deku took the fact he'd slept peacefully as a sign things were improving. The campfire in front of him was crackling but the place seemed abandoned. Around the fire lay fish, skewered on sticks, even the shelter had been laid out with kit to sleep and a spare change of clothes. Black with dark green highlights, (ironic). Deku found himself smiling. A small not hung from a branch between him and the fire. Facing the way he'd entered. This was odd. Looking behind him found revealed that his route had led him onto a well worn path someone else must've made. Whoever set this up knew he'd be here and would enter from that location. Despite himself, Deku walked over and read the note.

 _Whoever you are,  
_ _Rest. If you found this place under the same circumstances I did you need rest. If you are allergic to the fish there are berries in the shelter, if you are not, eat the fish, it will help you greatly. There is a man on his way to this location, be thankful, he created this space and now I allow you to use it. Below are instructions to perform a basic jutsu that will light the fire if it goes out, below those are instructions to put it out. Focus on your mouth as you perform them. If you can't nice to meet you lady... Go home, you don't belong in this world. If you can perform it, I'll make a shinobi/kunoichi of you yet. Now eat and rest, the way you chakra was described suggests you won't wake up until the night. This is perfect, the fish should be cooked and the berries still fresh. Once the moon reaches the sky above your clearing the man will be there for you, his name is Uchiha, your name won't matter until you reach a place called Konohagakure, with any luck you can shed your old name. Rest well._

_Midorikage_

Several things to unpack. Deku wasn't allergic to fish and honestly he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Grabbing a stick and looking at it he decided, even if it tasted horrible. Fish was going to be his new favorite food. Hopefully he'd never touch another slice of stale bread again. Second a jutsu? Like Ninjutsu? The illegal martial art? And chakra? Was that a quirk? But he was quirkless, so it couldn't be. Someone had sensed it, so it was probably more like xi or something. A natural life force, like the Tibetan monks once spoke of. Shinobi and kunoichi were ninja so that was simple. Deku glanced at his thin arms and bony legs. Ha! Him a fighter? What a joke. He'd have to wait for this Uchiha man, whoever he was, Deku hoped he was kind, or at least patient. Then the final mystery was Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves? Really? Why would anyone hide a- Oh, that's right, ninja. It was probably like a base more than a village though. It'd be military-like and he'd join as a new recruit. Hopefully they accepted twelve year olds. He chewed at the fish, considering his options. There was no-way he'd go back to the gateway, no chance in hell. He'd get lost if he wondered off too far, even so if this Uchiha was a secret psychopath then,

"You're awake," Shit. "Good," A tall man sat down the other side of the fire. "Kami I thought Izuku was bad,"

"Izuku?!" Deku froze "As in Midoriya Izuku? He's alive?"

"There's no-one with the name Midoriya Izuku in the shinobi world," Hope crashed down as fast as it had risen. "Eat the rest of the fish, we're going to travel for a month or so, then you'll be taken to Konohagakure," Uchiha spoke levelly. "If he told me right, you have a basic fire and water jutsu on that piece of paper, you'd better get to learning the signs or thigns will be much harder in the coming month,"

"What are you going to teach me?"

"Ninjutsu," But that was, "Like how to breath fire and cause floods, or how to create earthquakes and tornadoes in seconds," That's much different. "We'll work on other things but my friend asked me to make sure you were in a good shape to train hard before the month was over and looking at you," Uchiha pursued his lips. "It'll take time but I can also give you a basic for each elemental affinity,"

"How? I can't breath fire I'm,"

"Quirkless?" Uchiha smirked, "I had a boy say the same thing to me many years ago, now he's one of the best fighters Konoha has ever seen, or known, in a very long time, and he's only your age," Deku stared "So for now don't think low of yourself, I'll get you training ready in no time,"

"Yes sir!"

"Firstly let's start off with what I should call you, got any significant names?" Names? He'd known Deku. That clung to him like a weight back home. But now, now he wasn't home. He wasn't Deku. He could start over, go back when he was strong enough and show them what a man could do. All it would take it five words. Five words and he could finally be free of their clutches. He stared the man in the eye and took a deep breath.

"My name is,"


	9. No place like home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ah nuts," A pile of crumpled clothes was sat there.  
> "Welp, come on,"
> 
> "And then they,"  
> "They did what?" Fury was evident.
> 
> A little family gets a little bigger

The team stretched as they left the tower. It was early morning, sure. Were they tired? Little bit. Were they eager to get home? In a roundabout way, sure why not. Did they have a long month ahead of them? Oh boy yeah. Was that going to stop Uzumaki Naruto? "Phsst, you know who you're talking to right?"

"All I'm saying is that you're going to be very busy with Ino, Sakura and yourself," Izuku raised his hands placatingly.

"Yeah? What was you're saying again? Ain't fun if it's too easy?" Naruto shot back. "I'll handle it, you however, are leaning all these new techniques, not to mention messing with elemental mixing, you do have your puppet right?"

"Along with the colony now living with me and the contract with a ninken yes, Hinata has graciously also offered to help me with my tenketsu knowledge in between her spars with Gaara, luckily that means I can still help Sasuke with his Rasendori," They'd had a busy week in the tower, between training, Izuku had gone to talk with many of their fellow genin, getting them to teach him some techniques they were using. Shino's insect technique, Kankuro's puppet technique and Gaara's sand technique to name a few. "Lee was almost through the roof with joy at teaching me the styles he uses," Naruto knew that was meant literally as the bowl-cut ninja was an excitable one. The team also had a conspiracy that Lee was Guy's illegitimate love child, creating their own notebook for likenesses. Lee and Guy both denied it but Naruto wasn't sure. He could fill a cork board with all the similarities they displayed. All he needed was a confession. He'd get it one way or another. He'd get it. A slight evil cackle _did not_ escape his lips at the thought of getting said confession. Making Izuku's nonchalant cuff around the back of the head completely uncalled for. Sakura was smirking while Sasuke huffed and Izuku shook his head. "All three of us know exactly where you were going with that which is why you will not be left with Lee unsupervised,"

"But,"

"Ever,"

"Damn you," Another cuff. "Since you're helping Sasuke with the Rasendori, could you help me with my Rasenshuriken?"

"Already named it?"

"Obviously, I've been shaping the chakra for hours, the roof has never taken such a beating before,"

"And it takes the form of a shuriken?"

"Well it's four blades spinning in a circle, around a center point that you throw, so yeah," He decided with snark in his voice and a childish poking of his tongue. Izuku facepalmed.

"Sweet Kami could you act your age for like, twenty minutes, you aren't seven anymore," The four crouched and leapt into the trees.

The three pseudo-brothers stood at the front door. "Alright, we ready to do this?" Izuku had his hand on the doorknob.

"No," Naruto admitted, it wasn't there first time away from home. They knew people had broken in and trashed everything. Sasuke had been horrified the first time, but by then Naruto was used to it and Izuku simply collected it all for evidence, his fury burning just underneath the surface. The blond honestly worried for the day that fury was let out, and prayed for whoever was on the receiving end. Izuku doing his best in spars was bad enough, when he used that rage as fuel. Well, there was less ways for someone to survive if Naruto was being honest. There had been a single lesson that Sasuke and Naruto had learned living with Izuku for so long, that was the fury of a patient man equaled no other. There had only been one time they'd seen him angry and no-one was ever to speak of it. Mainly because all those involved save for the three had ended up dead but still, it kinda counted.

"The sooner we get it over with the sooner we can calculate the repairs," Sasuke grumbled. Izuku sighed and pushed the door open. What awaited them was an unpleasant sight. The walls were smeared and the furniture destroyed. Naruto barely had time to read it before Izuku had Shadow Clones cleaning the walls and righting the furniture. The trio continued further into the house as the smell of oil hit their nostrils. All three instinctively ran to their rooms and burst in. Naruto found his bed completely decimated and a heavy scent of oil. He looked for his closet. Normally it was on the wall next to the.

"Aw nuts," He mumbled. A pile of clothes sat in it's place, surrounded by large splinters and chunks of his wardrobe. They were all doused in oil, completely unusable.

"Alright, let's get it all," Izuku poked his head in the door, "Ah, I'll seal it all, it seems the intruders were unable to figure out which room was yours again so all three have been completely trashed yet again,"

"Oh sorry, maybe I should get a nameplate for my room?" His brother chuckled at that.

"Nah bro, it's all good, we'll just up the seals around the place, we chose to live here, just like they chose to attack this place, come on, I'm going to get an order of Ichiraku's to bring home, you help Sasuke seal this stuff away,"

"Alright," Naruto agreed as he walked out of his room. This was almost a standard procedure. Izuku gave Sasuke and Naruto scrolls to seal the damaged stuff in and went to get Ichiraku as comfort food. It was a coming home routine at this point: open the door, assess damage, fix it up and have some Ichiraku's. The blond found his best friend organizing the things in his room for sealing. "Did they get it this time?"

"No," A bit of respite. "I hid it properly again," Over his shoulder a small photo was thrown to Naruto. "I mean, they almost found it since the wall was painted, it would've highlighted the gap between the hatch and the wall," Ah, yes, the small safe like compartments Izuku had installed in each of their rooms. They all had one each to hide their most prized possessions when they left the house. This photo was Sasuke's. It was the three of them, in their training gear with Shisui and Itachi in their ANBU uniforms just behind the three. The photo technically wasn't allowed to exist. Did they care? Not in the slightest. They didn't care when the photo was taken, evidenced by the smiles on all five faces, and they didn't care now. Naruto carefully handed the photo back.

"We'll bring him back,"

"I know, and I'll make sure Danzo never sees the light of day again,"

" _We'll_ make sure because none of us are doing this alone," He emphasized. "When the dust has settled there will be three of us," He looked at the piles Sasuke had already sealed. The raven haired teen had barely made a dent. "Welp, come on, better get this done quick," The two began the long process of cleaning.

"Alright so tomorrow I'll have a clone look into stronger seals for the house, we're sure there weren't any windows open? Naruto?"

"For the love of," Naruto exclaimed "Yes! For the third time I am sure that I closed and locked my windows,"

"Just making sure, you are the one that likes to sleep with a breeze," The three were now sat in the semi-fixed kitchen. The cupboards had been restored and items brought again. The blonde was enjoying his bowl of ramen while the other two were talking of training schedules and studying habits. Izuku was more diligent than Naruto but honestly there wasn't much he couldn't learn through Shadow Clones. Anything that wasn't physical muscle training he could do through his clones. With Kurama's help it to organize everything it was almost unfair. Even though the academy had purposefully tried to hold him back and keep him ignorant, leaving him with an insurmountable gap against the others, his Shadow Clones would soon put him ahead of everyone. Izuku and Sasuke were the only ones capable of keeping up. Sasuke only had two Shadow Clones and both were devoted to studying for him, so he could focus on physical and chakra training. Izuku had chakra reserves that were off the chart but that just meant his small army of Shadow Clones were working over time to get the finesse of control over it. It also meant he could have another group studying around the clock for him. Naruto was pulled from his thoughts as someone knocked on the front door. All three paused with ramen halfway to their mouths. "Naruto," The greenette murmured as the blond slowly got up to answer the door. "Naruto,"

"Yeah, yeah, relax," A kunai spun around his fingers and was held in a reverse grip behind his back. If someone was going to attack them in _their home_ it was going to be the worst and last mistake a ninja could ever make. He opened the door and something tackled into him. In the same moment there was a sobbing spearing the silence. Naruto dropped the kunai as the lower half of his vision was full of pink. "Sa-Sakura?" She clung to him tightly. "Is everything alright?"

"N-nu-no," She cried gently. "Is it okay if I spend the night here please?"

"Sure," Izuku didn't even hesitate. "Firstly, do you want to bring your bags in? It's raining pretty heavily," The mention of rain made Naruto realize that Sakura was in fact, _soaked_. "I'll grab them, Naruto go grab her some towels or something," The blond nodded. He guided Sakura into the house and had a clone go to the water boiler. It was Izuku's ingenious idea to drape the towels over the boiler in order to make them dry faster and honestly? Naruto and Sasuke never wanted to hang out towels again. A hot towel after a cold shower was the best. His clone threw the towel to him as he took off his jacket it and tossed it to the clone. It nodded and disappeared back to the boiler. The memories flashed through his head of his jacket being placed on top of the boiler as he draped the towel around the pinkette's shoulders.

"Here, hold onto this," Her shivering began to slow down, "You want a hot drink? Tea, hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate please,"

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah, I got it, keep her warm,"

"Hypothermia is nasty business," Izuku muttered as he dumped the wet bags on the floor. "Gentle Warming Pheonix jutsu," A single small bird moved from his lips and began circling Sakura. "This won't burn you," Naruto eyed it, remembering the jutsu he'd used a week ago to relight a fire. "It's a softer version, less heat and it'll mold to fit your chakra, it should just help you warm up," The bird perched on Sakura's shoulder. The pinkette showed no signs of pain or discomfort while the bird shrunk slowly. "It'll shrink over time as the chakra warms you up, but we do need to get you out of those clothes, they are soaked and it'll chill your bones even with the extra heat,"

"Uh, Izubro?" Naruto began. All of their clothes were destroyed in the break in.

"My room, behind the nightstand, seventy, thirty-six, five," He nodded at his brother's words and guided Sakura into Izuku's room. Sakura gripped the towel as the flaming bird circled her slowly. Making his way to Izuku's room he found it in a similar sorry state. The bed was broken, his wardrobe had become splinters, the smell of oil lingered in the air. A single nightstand was still upright but everything from the top was currently collected around it on the floor. Pulling it away revealed a small square safe door implanted into the door.

"Alright, seventy," Twisting the dial until it clicked Naruto kept spinning it, "Thirty-six," A second click "And five," The handle jiggled and he grabbed it to open the door. Inside of the safe rested nine piles of clothing. Three of each boy's outfits. He grabbed two of his jackets, one to replace his and the other he handed to Sakura. "Alright just throw this one on for a second, let it take the moisture from the rain," The pinkette nodded and took the jacket. They stood in silence for a second. "Oh, yeah, I'll just wait outside," He quickly darted out of the room and grabbed his jacket from the boiler. It was warm to the touch. "Neh, Sakura?" He knocked on the door.

"Yeah?"

"Try this one, I sat it on the boiler for a few minutes, should be hot now," A hand crept around the door and he passed the jacket on. "Just leave the wet clothes in a pile, I'll have a clone take care of it,"

"Alright," The door closed "Thank you Naruto,"

"No problem," The door opened slowly to reveal Sakura draped in his jacket. Their size difference showed as the jacket fell halfway down her thigh and even her fingertips were hidden in the sleeves. His heart did not clench at the sight, Kurama was a liar. Speaking of the furball, he was currently snickering at Naruto's situation. 'Traitor'

**'Pussy'**

'Ku-ra-ma,' Izuku's thought floated through the building, immediately the nine tails was silent and Naruto resisted the urge to laugh. Naruto and Sakura made their way back to the main room as Sasuke finished making the hot drinks. Izuku was nowhere in sight. "Where did Izubro go?" Naruto looked around the room.

"No idea," Sasuke shrugged as he handed them hot drinks, "Hot cocoa, if you want anything for it you're going to have to grab it yourselves,"

"Thank you Sasuke," Sakura sat back down on the sofa, both boys looked at her. Tear tracks were evident down either side of her face and her left cheek appeared to be cooling down from a blow.

"You don't think," Sasuke began quietly.

"Later, right now we just need her to settle," Naruto shook his head. "And if Izuku's doing what I think he's doing it'll be better if we wait for an explanation," Sasuke just nodded.

"Alright," They both took chairs by Sakura to stop her from feeling crowded. "Where'd you get the spare?"

"Oh Izuku had a safe with some change of clothes for us hidden in his room,"

"Figures he'd have a counter measure for what they did in place," Sasuke huffed and leant back in his seat.

"What happened?" Sakura looked between the two.

"Remember how I'm not that popular with people?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. A pang of guilt flashed across her face.

"Y-yeah, I do,"

"Well a few people decided while we were in the tower was the perfect time to break in, they trashed the place, since they couldn't figure out which room or clothes were mine, they destroyed all our furniture and poured oil over our clothes," He sighed, shifting his hold on the cup. "We're working on some security seals now,"

"People broke in! That's horrible,"

"It's not the first time and it surely won't be the last," Sakura stood up.

"We should go and see Lord Third,"

"He won't do anything about it,"

"What?"

"We've tried before, he spouts some rubbish and that's the end of it, now we just don't waste our time," Sakura grabbed him by the front of his jacket.

"You have a marker in his office?" A small nod, "Take us their, now, this is so unfair,"

"Sakura,"

"No, this is horrible, people can't get away with this,"

"They already,"

"Naruto!"

"Fine, fine, hold on," Grabbing her wrist and putting a hand on Sasuke's shoulder they disappeared in an instant. Not even disturbing the steam of their hot drinks.

They arrived silently. ANBU were on the floor in seconds. "You're still too slow," Izuku's voice punctured their arrival. "As I was saying, Sarutobi, I have reason to,"

"Lord Third!" Sakura bowed after moving to his desk. "I am sorry to interrupt but Naruto has just told me that a group of people broke into his apartment and caused major property damage," The blond rubbed the back of his head, Izuku sighed but motioned for her to continue. "I saw the damage with my own eyes, they destroyed all the furniture, poured oil over the clothes, it looks like the boys just finished washing whatever was painted on the walls, whoever's done this can't get away with this,"

"I am aware of what happened in the boys' residence even though Izuku only gave me a rough outline,"

"Not like you were going to listen this time,"

"However I am more concerned about the fact you appeared on their doorstep with two luggage bags in the pouring rain beside yourself with tears," She faltered.

"Oh er," There was nothing for several seconds.

"Why is your face red?"

"I'm just cold, yeah, the rain really," Izuku coughed, Naruto swears until the end of his life he thought he heard his brother mutter a "horseshit," between his coughs.

"Miss Haruno, I will only ask one more time," The pinkette was still and stared through Grampa Third over the village. "And why are you in one of Naruto's jackets?"

"Oh that's because he let me borrow it since my clothes were drenched in the rain,"

"And why were you in the rain," Silence. So much so it hurt Naruto, he knew the look in her eyes and the hesitation of her lips. "Miss,"

"Sakura," Naruto took a tentative step towards her. "It's okay, whoever you're afraid of isn't here right now," She looked over her shoulder to him and then down at the jacket around her. "Just take it slow alright? It's going to be alright,"

"I-it's my, my parents, they don't, they don't like the fact I'm training to be a ninja," A mild shift in atmosphere. "I mean, I'd get it if they were just worried about me but, but,"

"That's not all there is, is it?" A slow gentle shake of her head.

"They, they make comments, I'll never find a husband if I die on a mission," A sniffle "I al-always need to look good, I shouldn't go near blood or get scars because I won't get any suitors," A mild grumble from his brother.

"And let me guess, you need to dress like a lady, which is why you wear the red dress- thing? Even though it gets in the way?"

"Y-yeah," Sakura nodded again. More grumbling and then.

"See what happens when,"

"Don't even try that bullshit Hiruzen," Izuku snapped "Don't try that, _it's because she's too young_ crap with me, this is because's her parents are trying to manipulate her, like Danzo did to Itachi, it's because her parents want to marry her off to a rich dude and live on easy street," He silenced the Third Hokage in seconds. "Sakura, what happened today?"

"Well, remember how you guys suggested we go shopping for a proper outfit for me?" Three silent nods. "My parents asked why I was smiling so much and I told them, they started yelling that I wouldn't look good and things, got... heated," Naruto looked to Izuku, who was barely concealing even more rage. "And when I shouted about being an adult they were saying I could live on my own if I'm such an adult," Her hand slowly rose to her face. "I yelled back anywhere would be better than living with them and, and then they," She was close to crying again.

"And then they what?" Izuku's fury was evident, almost tangible. A wave of nausea hit Naruto's stomach.

"My mom she, she slapped me,"

"No Sakura, she _hit_ you, I don't care if it was open hand, backhand or closed fist, that contact was a strike, a hit," Izuku rounded to the door. Sasuke grabbed his wrist and shook his head. Izuku's face was indescribable, pure fury and murderous intent rolling off it. "Give me,"

"Uzumaki Izuku, I ask you abstain from interfering in this problem as your interference could register any injury you report or admission you hear as admissible and moreover you could land in more trouble than the Haruno's will if you don't interfere," A small snort.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, are you suggesting you are going to deal with a _problem_ that one of _your villagers_ has? Surely that would be displaying favoritism and you'd be kicked from your chair immediately," The green haired shinobi turned on his heel slowly and even the ANBU began stepping backwards from him. "Or do you admit that you are just _too fucking scared_ to deal with the way your villagers behave towards my family?" Silence, with tension so thick Naruto began worrying he'd choke.

"Yes," That one word made everyone gape. Izuku began laughing and wooping.

"I FUCKING knew it! Behind all the bravado, the titles, the looks, you're just a goddamn coward pretending to be,"

"If I were to intervene in your affairs I would have to step from my seat because of the law I implement-,"

**THUD**

A kunai sat in the dead center of the desk.

"Then take my advice and rescind it,"

"Izuku,"

"I've been telling you for years now Gramps! We're going to reach a breaking point if you don't pull your head out of your ass!" Out of his pocket came several scrolls. "They could've burned the fucking place down with how much oil was used on our clothes, and since the stuffing for the furniture was everywhere the whole place would've gone up like matchsticks! In fact they probably fucking will next time!" Naruto could almost here the ticking of the clock as Izuku's patience slowly crumbled. "I can protect Naruto from assaults, kidnappings and the like but I can't be everywhere at once no matter what jutsu I use,"

"Collect the jounin from the village, have them all in my office," Third spoke to one of his ANBU, who nodded and disappeared. "You better make yourselves comfortable,"

"Yes Lord Third," Izuku dropped into a chair, Sasuke followed suit.

"You take the seat Sakura, I'm more comfortable on the floor," The pinkette hesitated but eventually took the seat. Naruto simply sat on the floor and smiled. Several ninja began filling the office. Many of whom gave Naruto disgusted or hateful looks, the rest acted as if he didn't exist. So the normal reactions. He heard a chair scratch on the floor and turned. His expectation was that Izuku had begun digging his heels into the floor when a hand touched his hair softly. Whipping his head around the other way revealed Sakura had in fact moved her seat and began patting his head while staring angrily at the Jounin in the room.

"Will Kakashi be joining us today?" The team captain spoke from the side.

"I'm already here Izuku,"

"I don't know, you do like to be late,"

"I can guess many of you question why you've been summoned here today,"

"Did the demon brat-,"

"I would advise you to not interrupt me again," Sarutobi's level voice created silence. "Effective immediately I am rescinding the Third's Law, the events of thirteen years ago can be spoken about freely by civilians and Jounin-sensei are to fill in their teams individually or bring them to me if I do not trust them to give an unbiased view point, you will be notified which group you are in later,"

"Hai,"

"So the kids finally wore you down old man?" A tan skinned man sporting incredible mutton-chop sideburns stepped forwards. "What was it?" The man's name was Asuma and he was the son of Grampa Third, and Konohamaru's uncle.

"Several criminals decided to break into the boys' home and destroy their private property and smear insults and slurs on the walls, I will be interviewing each Jounin tomorrow to find out who did it,"

"How do you know it was a Jounin?"

"Our apartment is protected by several security seals, each one more complex than the last, a Jounin is the only one with a skill level high enough to break in,"

"What evidence do they," A random voice was silenced by a great.

**Pwoomf**

The smell of oil hit the air and several piles of clothes filled the room. Some furniture also appeared, it had been slashed, hacked and generally just destroyed. "If the photographer didn't try extort me I'd also have photos of the smearing on the walls, next dumb question?" There was absolute silence. "Oh and if you're wondering this is collected over the last six break ins," A tic marked visibly appeared on Gramps Third forehead.

"Izuku, how many?"

"If we're keeping track, since the last time we spoke, maybe fifty times?"

"FIFTY?!" Sakura cried, momentarily pulling her hand away from Naruto's head, making him realize he'd been leaning towards her subconsciously as she stroked his hair. "When did you guys last talk?"

"Just before we set out with Tazuna," Izuku grumbled, "It was thirty-four before that, it seems Jounin don't want the Jinchuriki to be actually trained and just swing like a drunkard,"

"Since we are finally lifting the law we will also be pursuing those who have committed any transgressions towards him, Izuku or Sasuke, be they attempts at assault, robbery, property damage or slander," A minor cough, "We will also be lifting the curtain on who his parents are,"

"The demon br-," A Jounin was cut off, most likely by ANBU.

"Uzumaki Naruto in the heir to the Uzumaki clan, spread around the shinobi world after the fall of Uzushiogakure, he is the son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato,"

"Impossible! There's no way the demon-!" Another was silenced by ANBU.

"The Fourth Hokage died sealing the Nine,"

_*Cough*_

"Died sealing Kurama,"

**'Thanks kit'**

'No worries Kurama'

"Away, Naruto is the current holder of Kurama, why would the Fourth die if the sealing art didn't kill the previous casters? Especially with his mastery of Fuinjutsu," There was absolute silence.

"It makes sense," A new voice added. "He does bare a striking resemblance to Lord Fourth," Naruto turned his head and quickly assessed the new figure. A kunoichi, long black hair, red eyes, wearing something that wasn't a regular shinobi outfit and flak jacket. No doubting it, the speaker was Kurenai Yuhi. Mistress of Genjutsu, maybe he could ask her for some pointers since she was the best non-Sharingan/ dojutsu user in Konoha. Several people began yelling out the same word.

"Kai!" 

Deadening silence. No-one moved, no-one spoke.

"This isn't a genjutsu, Lord Third isn't under a Genjutsu either, Uzumaki Naruto is really the son of the Fourth Hokage," Kakashi shook his head, "The problem is that Lord Third left it too late for anyone to really believe it,"

"I believe it," Sakura spoke up, her hand back in Naruto's hair. "I mean he's one of the only two that can use the Flying Raijin, the signature jutsu of Lord Fourth,"

"He was the one that taught it to me," Izuku admitted. "Considering the delicate seal work it requires he picked it up quite quickly, and he has the chakra reserves to match it," Several people stepped back in pure shock and terror. Naruto looked at all of them for a moment. He gazed at their faces and shook his head. Despite the joyous circumstances Naruto couldn't really find it in himself to care. They knew who his father was, good for them, he'd known for ages. Over the years he'd stopped caring what the other's said about the mystery around his parents. He knew who they were and that was all that mattered.

"Any of you can refuse it, you can deny it, do whatever," Izuku shrugged, "You can tell yourself that you're trapped in a serious genjutsu for life for all we care, but you've been told the truth and that's that, Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage," The greenette turned to Grampa Third and put his hands behind his head. "I look forward to building a functioning relationship with you Gramps,"

"Alright, don't get getting ahead of yourself Uzumaki, I may be old but I'm not,"

"You have a grandson,"

"Yet he is far younger than you," Izuku was in thought for a second.

"I concede, Pops," Third sighed.

"Gramps it is then," A small fist pump of victory. "Anyhow, publicly releasing Naruto's heritage also gives him access to the Namikaze and Uzumaki accounts," Several great sighs.

"Finally," Izuku slumped in his seat.

"This mean we can get actual ingredients now?" Sasuke smirked.

"Wait you didn't give them access until now?" Kakashi stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, what income have the boys been living on?"

"Missions, a small monthly subsidiary before that," Sasuke grunted. "About a hundred ryo a week for all three of us," Several Jounin stepped forwards.

"Dad, are you fucking serious?"

"Hokage-sama, please tell me that was a bad joke,"

"A hundred ryo per child per week?!" Kakashi was almost in uproar. "It's a miracle they're still fucking healthy!"

"Please everyone mind your language around my brother," Izuku's sweet laced voice caused everyone to freeze. "I get the situation is quite upsetting but please don't curse in front of him,"

"I understand it does not seem like much, but it was the,"

"You are the Hokage, you literally only answer to the Daimyo, who was going to do anything? Danzo up and ran the night of the massacre!" Asuma roared.

"Not to mention the guy tried assassinating you and failed already! But noooo, you let him walk free because you were all buddy-buddy once!" Kakashi added on. Naruto felt as if he had two more additions to his ragtag family. Honestly they both fit the Uncle role quite well. Add the fact Kurenai and Asuma were doing a poor job of hiding their relationship, thus making her an honorary aunt, and the little family just got bigger. Now if only they could fix Kakashi up with somebody.

'Already making some matches' Izuku's thoughts dragged through his head. 'Sakura and I have been brainstorming the last few minutes, by the way, she says your hair is really soft,' The blond felt his face heat up subtly. So now Izuku could play matchmaker, Naruto made a mental note to never let Izuku set his sights on him. 'Too late, and not telling' Goddammit.

"Regardless of what thoughts everyone has on the matter, it is passed now, there is no point,"

"No point? No point?!" Kakashi interrupted, "Izuku you guys were suffering everyday,"

"While true we,"

"And he let you,"

"Again true but it's all in the past now, there is no need,"

"There is very much a need to talk about it Izuku, he's sat by and let those ingrate ignorant buffoons hurt and discriminate you three!"

"Be that as it may the issue has been settled and it can be put to rest,"

"Izuku,"

"Leave it," His tone made it obvious, he wasn't suggesting it, he was commanding them. Naruto resisted the urge to sigh. Both men backed down almost immediately. "So the law's finally rescinded, wonderful, now is the small matter of Sakura suffering from emotional manipulation and abuse, verbal abuse and most recently physical abuse from her parents," Naruto dropped a kunai and waited. Sure enough not even that dared make a sound after Izuku's casual accusation.

"You do realize what you're say-,"

"Of course I do Hiruzen," Izuku held himself in a faux confident manner. It was slightly subtle but Naruto could see the finer detail that gave it away. The tiniest on tensing in his legs, getting ready to run away. His arms shifting micrometres backwards to grab a weapon, _any_ weapon. "I can recognize the signs and symptoms, after all," A very deep breath and steadying of his barely trembling fingers. "I went through it for seven years,"


	10. Back to everyday life....Almost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You ever say something like that again,"
> 
> "Raise the sword," Izuku lifted his, "And try to strike me," 
> 
> "I can't do this,"  
> "You can and you will,"  
> "What he means is we know you can, don't give up,"

The four sat in the living room, a cup of hot chocolate each. The furniture they sat on was brand new paid for by the new wealth Naruto found himself in. The Namikaze's sure knew how to handle money, even his dad. There was enough Ryo in there for them to not have to take missions for a couple weeks at least! After a long conversation with Grandpa Third, Sakura had been allowed to act as an adult and thereby move into the Uzumaki-Uchiha apartment. Since her luggage was already in the building there were no problems. The three boys had sat as witness in the T&I room while Third questioned the Harunos. After several minutes of being exposed to four very powerful and angry chakras and three different killing intents, the two confessed tearfully. And yet another bonus was that the apartment had been repaired by Shadow Clones while they were having the conversation (Interrogation). Now it was good as new, almost. None of them could pinpoint it but there was always a slight draft after the first break in. "Alright, so, sleeping arrangements," Izuku began as he lifted his feet onto the new coffee table. "Naruto, you'll be on the couch, Sakura will take your room,"

"What why do I have to be in here? Can't we bunk?"

"Number one, we're out of futons and the beds are only single, number two you're the one that keeps missing rent," Sasuke grumbled as he took a long sip of his drink. "Now-"

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

"Sasuke?"

"I wasn't expecting anyone, Izuku?"

"Nope, I have a clear schedule for today and tomorrow,"

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

"I'll get it," Naruto stood up and placed his cup on the table. In a manner similar to when Sakura was at the door, Naruto kept a kunai behind his hip. A streak of platinum blonde raced past him as he opened the door and Sakura gave a small 'eep!' as the blur crashed into her.

"Yamanaka, to what do we owe the intrusion?" Somehow his green haired brother had identified the blur as the duo hit the ground

"SAKURA!!" Ino cried, "Why didn't you ever tell me your parents were so horrible?!"

"I believe that's what we owe the intrusion to," Sasuke had already picked up his book. Naruto watched the room Ino consoling Sakura on an issue practically resolved, Sasuke reading what he hoped to Kami wasn't a disguised Icha Icha paradise and Izuku was sat silently fuming.

"Well fucking played old man, no more secrets," A gentle sigh, "Prick," It didn't take a genius **'Lucky for you'** to figure out that Izuku was on about Third.

'Shut it Kurama,' The blonde hadn't missed the snark either.

"Well, know that you've seen Sakura is well I am afraid we must ask you to,"

"I'm not going anywhere, Sakura is my friend, I can't leave her in,"

"Yamanaka you were not invited into our house nor are you, Naruto and I agreed to train you, not give you free entry into our home,"

"I'm not leaving her alone," Sasuke coughed,

"What are we chopped liver?"

"You're boys, you won't under-," Izuku quickly stood up and walked out of the room swiftly, slamming the door so hard behind him that several pictures on the walls rattled. Sasuke gave a very heavy sigh and closed his book while his free hand massaged his temple. Naruto picked up the still warm cups of hot chocolate.

"I'm going to run a bath," Sasuke announced to no-one in particular.

"I supposed I should get dinner started anyway," The steaming drinks were poured down the sink as Sasuke closed the door to the hall, Naruto followed suit with the kitchen door. "I expect you to be out by the time I am done, Yamanaka," The lock clicked into place.

Finding his brother wasn't difficult, in fact, it was painfully easy. Several trees were missing, creating a path to a small clearing. A clearing in which Izuku was punching himself. A lot of himself. In fact he was punching so many that Naruto wasn't sure which one was the real him. That was until all of them turned to smoke. Even the center fighter turned to a puff of smoke. Nothing in the clearing was visible for half a minute until all the smoke dissapated. "Yes?" The blond jumped slightly at the voice coming from behind him. "I'm a bit busy looking for the flaws in my style,"

"I guessed, but dinner has been cooked, it's katsudon with some salmon thrown in, figured it'd be a nice twist,"

"I'll be there shortly,"

"No, you're coming with me," Grabbing Izuku's shoulder and the kitchen blurred into existence around them. His hand remained firmly on the greenette's shoulder while the two had a silent stare down.

"Very well, since I'm here I may as well just stay here, has Yamanaka left yet?"

"I don't know, drop the formal tone, you're upset, so am I and so is Sasuke,"

"Fine but has Yamanaka gone?"

"As I just said, I don't know, I've been in the kitchen the entire time,"

"Fine, let's got and check, I'll get Sasuke now," The two walked over to the door and began opening it. Sakura was sat laid across the couch, still wearing his jacket mind and had stolen Sasuke's book to read. "I take it she left?"

"Yes, I had to convince her to leave though, the look on her face when I'd explained everything to her, she wanted to kick down the door and apologize to all three of you,"

"Wonderful, well, tell her that if she's polite, next time she can stay for dinner, you help Naruto serve everything up, I'll get Sasuke," The greeneette walked out of the room as the blond and pinkette moved into the kitchen. 

"Ino was really sorry y'know,"

"I don't care if I can be honest, she's always had that attitude, ever since I can remember, Izuku has been the only one that could ever get her back, he thinks that it'll help you if she comes back round again so he'll play nice,"

"Had you made the decision?"

"I don't want her back so long as she has that always gotta be right thing sorted out, even when I was trying to help train her, getting her to see a mistake took hours, hours I could've used to train myself, you'd think that she'd actually listen since she asked for the help,"

"But she didn't, did she?"

"Not in the slightest, I honestly would've got more co-operation with you before team seven was formed," He chuckled.

"Let's not push it," Her coy smirk kept him laughing. "I feel like comparing us is insulting me,"

"Alright alright," His hands raised placatingly. "But Ino didn't rip my test when I gave her the answers,"

"YOU!!" A chopstick was whacked against his arm.

"Sorry, sorry," His words betrayed his actions as he clutched his sides in laughter, almost falling to a knee. "Okay, no more, promise,"

"You better," She huffed at him, her anger clearly fake. They filled up the four bowls with spare left over. 

"Just in case someone wants seconds,"

"Or in case I said Yamanaka could come back," Izuku's words made them freeze. "I saw everything after Naruto's little jab," The greenette gazed at the floor letting out a very long and heavy sigh. "Sakura, you can dismiss yourself and bring Yamanaka back but if she ever, ever acts like that, she will not be allowed back, under any circumstance,"

"Understood," Sakura's form turned into smoke, surprising Naruto. He blinked repeatedly before rounding on his brother.

"You knew?"

"Her chakra was weaker than when she got here, only explanation," A non-commital shrug. "'Sides, this will help all of us, another in the fold will give us all another person to open up to," Green eyes met crystal blue, "Don't screw this up,"

"What? Why would I?"

"You're Uzumaki Naruto, loudmouth, brash and arrogant to all in the village except the three that live in these walls and a Jounin known for killing his only surviving comrade, there's little to no room for perpectives of the elders to change, speaking of when I was talking to Sarutobi I came across a little tidbit of information, regarding what Danzo orchestrated,"

"And?"

"ROOT's behind everything,"

"Everything?"

"The massacre, the tension, the recent armings of smaller villages and towns, the pillaging and attacking of others, but there was something else,"

"What?"

"Danzo was on the council of Sarutobi,"

"Yeah with Koharu and Homura,"

"Most didn't trust Danzo half as far as they could throw him," Something begain clicking in the back of the blond's mind. **'I do not like where this is going Kit'** Nor did Naruto. "Itachi never trusted the man and only listened to him when Sarutobi said to, or," A breath of relief.

"Or when the other three council members were in agreement, because he could never prove Sarutobi hadn't said it," Izuku continued "Which means that Danzo wasn't the only one to orchestrate it,"

"But he was the smartest one to skip town and hightail it as far away as possible" Naruto nodded. Danzo held a special place in all of their minds. In their younger years the elder had made more than one attempt to steal Sasuke's eyes or even kidnap one of the Uzumaki brothers. They always failed though, because the trio had become better than the weapons Danzo wanted to turn them into. ROOT operatives learned quickly that any method they could think of wouldn't ever work, unless it went perfectly the first time. Simply because the boys adapted faster. Izuku was the prime example, the first attempt had been at night, to kidnap him in his sleep. After it failed Izuku put his bed the otehr side of the room, kept his curtains closed when he was in the room and a tripwire at his window. The next attempt had gone even worse as the trap had caused the operative to fall from the window to his death. Nowadays attempts were rare but more dangerous.

"Koharu and Homura both joinde with Danzo and forced Itachi's hand, claiming it was Sarutobi's will when the man hadn't even considered that route," Anger flared but Izuku lifted an arm halfway up, keeping his palm down. "Relax, I have Shadow Clones on it right now, Sarutobi's finally dismissing them from the council,"

"They need to burn,"

"They are being charged with orchestrating genocide, blackmailing an ANBU, lying to the Hokage and a few other crimes, they won't even make it out of T and I," Izuku scoffed. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "The clones wil dispell the second they're left alone," There it was. Izuku pretended to be all goody-two shoes but deep down the greenette was the most vindicative and cold of them all. Flashing back to the time they fought Zabuza and Haku, Izuku had tried to save the wronged duo and when that hadn't worked, had torn through the horde of men with Zabuza. The same night Izuku had supposedly gone to meditate in the forest but Kurama had smelt the blood on his hands, _Naruto_ had smelt the blood on his hands. The village saw Izuku's patient side, Naruto knew Izuku's anger. The world was not prepared for the Izuku he kept to himself. THe blond gazed at his brother for another moment. "Far away from the village they failed to protect, alone and afraid, the way they left many of us,"

Sakura came through the door first, putting herself between Ino and the boys. "You're late," Naruto shook his head as he gestured to the bowls of food, kept warm on the top of the oven.

"You didn't need to wait," Sakura levelled her gaze

"It is impolite to eat when the guest isn't present," Sasuke recited boredly 

"I thought she wasn't a guest," She rounded on the raven-haired boy

"For now, until she proves she cannot behave like one," Izuku didn't even bother lifting his eyes from his notebook, pencil still scratching away.

"Thank you,"

"Do not thank us, prove us wrong," It wasn't a command, nor a suggestion. It was a challenge. For all of them to be better than they were.

"I will,"

"Good, your training is going to be ramped up after tomorrow, now you're eating properly we can starting getting you training properly,"

"You mean that wasn't proper training?"

"Not in the slightest, we were going easy on you while we built up your muscle mass,"

"But,"

"Ino," Sakura knelt at the low table, "I was the same, once you fall into the routine it becomes easy," Naruto audibly sucked in his breath as Sasuke peered over his book at the pinkette.

"Easy is it?" She gulped and glanced to Naruto and Sasuke for help. "Don't look at them, look at me," His voice carried the authority of a teacher, "If you are finding it easy now, we're going to add another five kilogram to each set of weights," A slight breath of relief. "What? You expected me to say double? Sakura, I am many things, ruthless may be one but cruel is not," He shook his head "We'll also go into lessons like wielding a tanto, throwing senbon and kunai as well as shuriken, we'll aslo find out your chakra natures and jutsu's relating to that type, currently we have no way of teaching you kunoichi oriented skills such as sedcution, so you'll have to rely on what the academy taught you,"

"Uh, the academy didn't teach us about kunoichi only skills?" Sakura say up straighter. Nartuo rested his empty bowl on the table.

"And here I thought we caught a break now Sakura has a sparring partner closer to her level," He rubbed his temples, "Kami alive, this is such a taxing day, alright, Naruto, come with me, Sasuke help Sakura and Ino create timetables for their upped workouts and diet plans,"

"Fine, but you two better hurry," Both boys disappeared in less than a flicker.

They landed silently in the office. At this point grandpa Third wasn't surprised to have them just appear. "Is there something else wrong?" Naruto watched as Izuku walked over and picked up a sheet of paper from the desk. "Izuku," The greenette sat down in a chair and read the paper carefully. "Izu-,"

"The civilian council has interfered with the academy cirriculum," His tone was that of someone mentioning an change of items in the shops.

"Impossible all changes to the academy first have to be-,"

"All decisions not unanimous by the civilian council go to the Shinobi council, if still undecided you are to give the final verdict," A hand motion from the elder shinobi and an ANBU appeared at his side.

"Collect all from the civilian council immediately," The ANBU disappeared in a black streak. Naruto read the paper over Izuku's shoulder, only to find it was full of information about something completely different. "You realize that you're accusing the civilian council of undermining my,"

"No, I'm accusing you of being an old man and not paying attention to every paper," Izuku sighed and turned the paper around to the Head of Konhagakure. "Do you remember signed this?"

"It is hereby stated that the civilian council will no longer need to inform the Shinobi council or thereby the Hokage of unanimous decisions that result in the change of business in the village if the change is estimated to had a positive impact among the inhabitants and travelling traders in Konohagakure, what? I never signed this paper!"

"So that isn't your signature at the bottom of the page?" Izuku picked up a second slip of paper and his eyes dropped to the bottom of the page. His face darkened.

"NO! That is a forgery, whoever did this must be," The three all shared the same dark look, Naruto keeping with the conversation simply from context.

"Danzo," The name all three growled out. The Grandpa stood up and took the paper with him. "You two, with me now," Izuku smirked while Naruto jumped up. A chance to see the Hokage own some people? Sign him the hell up! Together they began moving towards the meeting room for the civilian council and the doors exploded open, hitting the walls at the perfect speed to bounce and swing shut behind them. The civilian council stood at attention before seating themselves as the three made their way to the Hokages' chair. The council room was built with benches either side of the room, the benches rose until they hit the wall and ran almost the entire length of the room. The Hokage's chair sat at the far end of the room in the dead middle of the wall. The benches were currently filled with civilians watching them move.

"You were not told to be seated," Izuku kept his head held high. Several gave him dirty looks.

"While you may be a guest boy," Someone began.

"Regulation states that none are to be seated until the Hokage is sat in their chair," Naruto lifted his own head and stood up straighter than before. "So stand," The looks only got larger in numbers and dirtier as they were directed at him. But Naruto didn't shrink, he's an goddamn Uzumaki. And one day, they'll be stood before him.

"The boys are right, stand before I have ANBU act for treason," The civilian council stood up. As Third sat down, Naruto and Izuku stood eitehr side of him.

"Lord Hokage, what was so urgent that a meeting was called after calling for the removal of the Haruno's of the council?"

"There are several things I am going to address in the meeting, firstly is the discrimination that Uzumaki Naruto has been on the recieving end of, that is to stop immediately, as are the lies and the actions towards him, his brother and Uchiha Sasuke," A momentary pause, "The 'Demon Brat' you call him, is the child of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, who sacrificied his only child in order to save the village, effective immediately any and all stores caught doing anything of a dscriminatory nature will face severe consequences, since none of you can see further than your own nose," A few voices were raising in dissent. "Be very grateful I have not allowed Uzumaki Izuku to have it his way, if only because it would destroy the economy of Konohagakure, because if it didn't I would hazard that seventy percent of you would not leave this room with even the clothes on your backs if you're lucky, the crimes you have commited are punishable by death but I am only allowing the excuse of ignorance this once, if I ever here that you have over charged two children for so much as a chocolate bar, you will answer to every single one of your crimes,"

"Lord,"

"Every. Single. One." His voice was but an angry snarl, "Including the attempts to kidnap him in his sleep with plans to do Kami only knows what, attempts to beat him possibly to death," If ever there was a threat to ensue silence, this was one. Not even the wind made a noise as everyone adjusted themselves in their seats. "In case you missed it I shall repeat it, Uzumaki Naruto is the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, honestly I am surprised no-one was able to figure out the connection, but that only deepens my dissapointment in all of you," Naruto shifted somewhat uncomfortably, the people didn't regret doing what they did, they regreted _who_ they did it to. Those gazes of fear now held the slightest bit of validation, if only for the wrong reasons. "The second and final reason I come here is that I am dismissing the civilian council, I realize now that this whole idea was a mistake, a foolish dream from a foolish old man,"

"You had the right heart Sarutobi-sensei," Izuku shook his head, "You wished for peace and everyone to have an equal say, it's a pity they took advantage of it," Naruto flicked his head at his brother and resolved to find out what this 'Sensei' deal was about.

"Of course you should know the offending item I am referring to, the fact that you are allowed to go behind my back in a unanimous decision to change the village however you see fit!" He began grumbling, "But then if you forget to inform me of a majority vote then who knows what could happen," A deep sigh, "That piece of legislation was signed by an imposter, rogue nin Danzo, if my hunch is correct, and therefore anyone of you that has followed it is again guitly of treason to the highest degree, now I shall ask once, you shall again be given the excuse of ignorance until I find out otherwise, who was in charge of informing the shinobi council?" A lone man stood up, Naruto identified him to be mid to late forties.

"I am Lord Hokage, and I have every meeting transcribed and stored ready for your review, the majority always voted it unneccasary to inform the shinobi council according to the, now fake, ruling, I shall do my best to summarize all of them and bring them to you," The man bowed and sat down.

"There is one that you need to inform me of, who here voted to change the cirriculum in the academy?" Several, easily over half, of them stood up. "Stand in the centre," The large group hesitantly moved into the flat area. "Now why did you change the cirriculum?"

"Lord Hokage, the cirriculum was unsuited to teach the children,"

"The cirriculum wasn't designed to teach children, it was designed to teach ninja, shinobi and kunoichi, and because of your meddling, our kunoichi teammate doesn't know about half the skills necassary to be a kunoihi, as goes with her friend and I'm willing to guess the entirety of this and last generation of kunoichi," Izuku interrupted.

"Be that as it may _boy_ the cirriculum is not suited to,"

"Then make your own school and set that cirriculum, do not interfere with the ninja academy,"

"The future of the village depends on the education the children get,"

"We are a hidden village!" Izuku barked, "Without ninja to defend us there is no future of the village,"

"You are a child,"

"I am a shinobi, and if you think you have any say in an education you cannot understand then you should go back to education yourself and think again,"

"Do not claim-,"

**Clink cling**

A sword hit the ground and the arguing villager gazed at it. Izuku's arm was still outstretched after throwing it to the floor casually.

"If you claim to know what is best for a ninja you will have no problem proving it, so take that sword and strike me with it,"

"What?"

"Take that sword," His voice was a deathly calm, "And strike me with it, otherwise you shall be silent as the academy is repaired after you destroyed it with your interference,"

"Do as Izuku suggests," Gramps uttered, "Because if you refuse I will have you executed here and now for treachery, endangering the village and cospiring behind my back," The sword was hurriedly picked up and held ready to use. Naruto shook his head.

"It's a one handed sword," He whispered to the man, who quickly took one hand away from the handle. The greenette was a sharp contrast, holding the tanto with one hand behind his back, his face the picture of calm.

"If you can nick me, my clothing or make me bleed, you shall be considered the victor, my objective is to simply make you fall," His sword was steady as opposed to the violently shaking sword of the villager. "Now," Izuku drew himself up to his full height. "Come!" The man lamely charge Izuku. "Naruto, explain to him," The blond nodded as Izuku parried the attack effortlessly.

"You see, my brother and I have been in the academy, we saw lessons for shinobi exclusively, many were actually quite dull, things like accounting, organizastional skills, basics of being part of a team, and even then that was final year stuff, the swordsmanship that you are facing was from Izuku realizing that being a ninja required actual combative skills because y'know, they are trying to kill you," The greenette sidestepped past a very horrible attempt to stab his stomach and the man stumbled, almost falling over.

"Good, for I minute I thought you'd make Naruto stop early," His voice was very clearly bored. The man spun on his heel and tried slicing Izuku.

"So we trained ourselves, studying for our minds,"

**CLANG**

"And exercise for our bodies," Izuku had stopped the attack, lazily raising his sword and stopping his opponent without so much as a wobble of recoil. In one swift movement he rotated his wrist before flicking his elbow to the side, taking the man's borrowed blade with it. "Because we didn't want to be underprepared but we figured hey, they might let us learn things in the field," He tried fleeing to the sword, "But nope! Kakashi was there to guide us with the info we were given, which he did he best at, but you sent us out underprepared," Izuku's foot caught the man's ankle and the body crashed to the floor.

"I win," Izuku sheathed his blade and walked to pick up the dropped one. He nodded to Grampa third and walked over to Naruto.

"The civilian council is hereby dissolved, you are all permanently dismissed," The man with the hat spoke levelly but gave no room for arguement. "You too boys, go home and relax,"

"I'm going to meditate, Naruto, you have Yamanaka and Haruno to train tomorrow, better get a plan ready,"

"Yeah yeah, I'm going,"

"Wonderful, I'll come and help after I meditate, you'll be on your own for the day since I'm helping Sasuke with hsi Rasendori," Both boys disappeared immediately, leaving Sarutobi to sigh and put a hand to his head.

"You boys will be the death of this old man,"

He stood atop the river and watched as both Sakura and Ino attempted to reach him. "You guys nailed tree walking, this is just a slight bit harder but I know you can get it," An Izu-clone had appeared a few minutes ago and advised to train their chakra control if the two were going to be battle medics, before disappearing into smoke. Sakura had her limit of one shadow clone also running the gauntlet, trying to walk on the water. All three figures were dripping after falling into the river numerous times. True to the deal, neither were complaining of difficulty, nor arguing over anything or even frowning at the blond stood in the middle of the river. Sakura had made it two steps before pulging into the running water while Ino only made it one. Neither complained over the falling, until.

"Gah! This is impossible!" Ino flopped down at the edge of the river, after climbing out for the umpteenth time. "I can't move my chakra right!"

"You can, it's just more of a loop than a direct input, try running it across the sole of your foot intead of just pushing it into the water," Naruto offered while smiling gently. "Once you start to understand it it'll be easy,"

"I'm trying!" Ino waved her arms lamely, "But it's impossible,"

"It's not, you've already got a foot on it, all you have to do is repeat it," His patience was being tested now. Was this how Itachi and Shisui felt while training the three boys? The blond tapped his forehead twice and closed his eyes. Once he opened them he saw the blonde sat with her knees up to her chest and arms around her legs. Her eyes never moved from the downcast look as Naruto quietly made his way over. "Hey," His voice was soft enough to pull her attention. As she looked up at him he grinned. "I know you can do it," His fingers tapped against her forehead, she looked up into his face in shock. "But it'll take all you can give it," Pulling his hand away Naruto was about to return to his previous position, instead taking only three steps away from the embankment. Ino slowly stood up and stared at the water, ready to try again. Neither were aware of the sidelook Sakura was giving them as she stood with one foot on the water.

"You're making slow progress, but it is still progress," Izuku's voice praised as he walked into the area, "I've come to tell you all that Sasuke is starting on dinner,"

"Finally a break,"

"Oh no, if you can't reach Naruto you won't be getting dinner, as originally stated there are no breaks in training, you either finish training or stop altogether," His voice was deceptively calm as he delivered the soul-crushing news, "Itachi and Shisui were much more forgiving teachers than we are, but that's because you've had years to take the initiative,"

"But we didn't," Sakura flopped onto the floor after climbing out of the river yet again. "It means we have to play catch up as much as possible,"

"Correct, Ino I will be giving you a few sessions of training that should bring you to Sakura's level but it will be, as people say, like going through the fire and the flames,"

"I'm beginning to think you take pleasure in askign us to do the impossible,"

"Nothing I ask you to do is impossible,"

"I can't do this,"

"You can, and you will," His voice was stern but not commanding, patience being pushed too quickly instead of anger being held back. Naruto bounced slightly.

"That's just his way of saying that he believes in you," A small chuckle "Seriously it's just his way of saying we know you can, so don't give up," The greenette nodded slightly as Naruto put his raised thumb in Ino's direction.

"But don't think we've forgotten about you Sakura, you're starting to plateau too, unless you can pick up the slack and train by yourself, you'll be stuck at this level," Izuku turned to the pinkette. "You both have five minutes to walk on the water before I bring dinner here and we eat it in front of you,"

"That's harsh,"

"I'll do whatever is necassary to ensure your training has results," A cricket chirped in the silence. "It's only fair since the academy failed you so badly,"

"There it is," Naruto chuckled. "You guys are going to get used to this over the next month, especially you Sakura since you're in the Uzumaki-Uchiha home," He clapped his hands. "Now back to water-walking!" The girls groaned but stood up nonetheless. This was the beginning of their personal hell.


	11. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaara and Izuku send warnings that are ignored.  
> A tournament gets cancelled as the first round starts.  
> A ghost is spooked  
> The living aren't dead
> 
> "You died....you're dead!"  
> "So is he!"

Naruto yawned as he sat up in bed, He wasn't sure why but something had pulled him from the clutches of sleep.

**'That was me kit, Shukaku and his jinchuuriki are on their way here'**

'But it is like, four in the morning, on a Sunday!' Throwing his blankets aside the blonde moved out of his room. Making his way to the main area he almost ignored the creaking of Izuku's door opening. Turning around he raised a hand, "Morning br-?" He was greeted by Kurotsuchi standing meekly in the doorway. "Morning Kurotsuchi," Over the last month everyone had grown used to the kunoichi being in the house. Izuku gave no effort to hide the relationship but no-one really cared either. Naruto flashed back to the first time they'd encountered her in the house, where Kurotsuchi had bowed and apologized for misunderstanding the situation and her actions towards him. The resulting days had been awkward but now there was an understanding between the two. Naruto felt he could turn his back on the kunoichi without having to worry she'd attack him anymore. He shuffled towards the kitchen, intending to make himself breakfast. A lightning bolt struck, "You two didn't?"

"No Naruto, we are twelve, shinobi yes, but we are still _twelve_ get your mind out of the gutter and for Kami's sake, never imply such a thing again," Izuku shook his head, the blond stared at Izuku before it settled in.

_They weren't even teenagers_

Naruto looked down at his hands and watched his fingers twitch. He was twelve, Izuku was twelve. He challenged a grown man to a sword fight, and he _won without a scratch!_ The blond just let the information sink in, Izuku so was so mature it was hard to remember they were still children. But the fact remained.

_They_

_were_

_CHILDREN_

And Izuku had already killed the thugs Gato hired, Naruto had been spat on, isolated terrorized by villagers, he had watched Zabuza and Haku die along with all those men. Sasuke had seen his family, his _clan_ slaughtered by his brother who had been set up by an evil warhawk along with the terrors Izuku and he had seen. Kurotsuchi had been willing to take his head of a month ago and she was the same damn age! Naruto clutched his forehead, pulling his yellow hair back. They were kids, but they were kids that had seen the worst parts of the world. Team seven didn't even live with any family anymore, Kakashi sure as hell wasn't taking care of them! Naruto was fucking twelve and the nine-tailed beast was the most parental figure he'd ever had, not to mention Kurama was _fucking sealed inside him!_ Someone poked his forehead.

"Oi, oi, let's have some breakfast and then you can face your existential crisis, alright?"

"How do you do it? We're twelve bro, twelve, and we have blood on our hands,"

" _I_ have blood on _my_ hands, you don't just yet, and I intend to keep it that way, as for the whole, being shinobi and facing death most days, well, that's just how this ole world works I'm afraid bro," A supportive hand on his shoulder. "Come on, once we get Itachi back, we'll be good, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto nodded numbly, "Okay,"

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

"Ah, Gaara is here," Izuku sauntered through the room to the front door. "We should do something about Shukaku's seal, I've been feeling the Biju chakra from their residence," Naruto nodded. Over the last month Gaara had shown the seal to the trio, Naruto recognized it as a modified storage seal, one used for transportation of goods, not for holding a damn Tailed Beast, even if it was the One Tail. A promise to improve the seal had been made after the tournament was over since Gaara wanted to prove he wasn't a threat, even with the faulty seal. The door swung open and the redhead fell into the room.

"He's done it," Izuku straightened up, "He's replaced one of the guards,"

"Did you give your dad the kunai?" The jinchuuriki dumbly nodded. "Good," And just like that, Izuku was gone. "Hold on," He quickly dashed into his bedroom, returning in his shinobi gear before disappearing again.

"What was..." Sakura's head moved to follow where Izuku would have been, had he not vanished mid-run. Naruto looked at Garra and the front door. Then back at Gaara, then the front door again.

"Sasuke, grab your shit!" Naruto dives towards his room. Sand forms a wall to stop him. "Gaara,"

"Izuku said that he will deal with Orochimaru,"

"And what's to stop me using a flying raijin right now?"

"He said that Orochimaru was planning on putting a cursemark on Sasuke or you if the two of you clashed with the Sannin again,"

"The snake will just put the mark on him instead," Sasuke growled. Gaara shook his head.

"No, izuku's primal chakra will burn away the foreign chakra, thats' why he's so hard to heal,"

"Because no chakra type matches his, of course," The blond shook his head. "No, off topic, we aren't letting him," Izuku flashed back into the living room.

"Aren't letting me do what bro? I wasn't fighting Orochimaru, I went to tell Hiruzen and tip off Gaara's old man, of course the Kazekage is too proud to listen to the warnings abotu a snake themed shinobi who is literally only known for backstabbing others,"

"What else is new?" Gaara grumbled.

"So we need to figure out when the Sannin will make a move, if it's even him making a move," The greenette grimaced

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Danzo pulled a lot of the strings for this puppet show before he left, right now it's so tangled for us we don't know if someone's a puppet or not,"

"You think Orochimaru is being manipulated by Danzo?" Naruto could understand his brother's logic.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Danzo had done to Orochimaru as he has done to his ROOT agents," The greenette grumbled, "Shit," A shadow clone popped up next to him before immediately turning to smoke. "Alright, now my clones will be on guard,"

"What clones?" Sasuke stepped forwards,

"The clones Sarutobi asked me to put on patrol, all diguised with transformation jutsu,"

"Clever," Naruto smirked, trust Izuku to do something like that. "So now we just wait for him to betray Kazekage while the Sand attack and then everything can be wrapped up in a nice pretty bow,"

"They'll probably attack in the first round, when everyone is most distracted," Sakura's voice made him jump, no he hadn't forgotten she was in the house, he just wasn't expecting her at his shoulder.

"True," Sasuke nodded as he rubebd his chin, "Alright, Kurotsuchi, can you keep the Stone out of the conflict?"

"Easily, but surely we should help you?"

"No, this needs to stay between the Leaf, the Sand and the Sound, the Stone, Cloud and Mist if they hear about this, would try to capitalize on the attack, but since the Cloud didn't have any shinobi get this far and the Mist being the recluse village it is, the Stone is the only one posing a threat," izuku shook his head

"That's sweet and all but the Stone-nin lost mostly to the Leaf-nin," She grumbled, "I still don't know how after your cirriculum was screwed over,"

"We inspired a few boys to train harder, most the girls tried to be good kunoichi to catch my attention," Sasuke blew his hair out of his face. "But that's irrelevant right now, we need to get ready for the invasion," The six ninja began plotting.

"The first battle of the final stage of the Chunnin exams is," Naruto hoped the proctor wouldn't say that every round, it would get annoying quick. "Uzumaki Naruto," None cheered, many booed and yelled expletives, "Against Hyuuga Neji," The crowd roared, with the exception of the Hyuuga clan. Someone really needed to remove the sticks up each of their asses. The older genin stood at the opposite end of the ring, glaring at the blond. He really wasn't that bothered with the Hyuuga if he was being honest, yeah the three-sixty vision was a major advantage but Naruto could attack from all angles anyway with his Shadow Clones. Looking around the crowd he saw Izuku, Sasuke, Sakura and Ino sat together. It suprised him to see the blonde sat with the group but he'd be lying if he said they hadn't become close over the course of her training.

"Give up, you are destined to lose this battle," Naruto watched Neji boast, "You can not change fate, so you should simply surrender now and save yourself the embarrassment, Dead Last," The crowd snickered at his name while Neji smirked.

"So that's your gameplan, demoralize me and humiliate me?"

"It is already known you hold the Kyuubi, but you are still one of the worst students in the,"

"The _Kyuubi_ has a name, it's Kurama, rememebr it Hyuuga, because otherwise I will beat it into you," Neji crouched low, his hands flat.

"That I'd like to see, Dead Last," The teen charged forwards and got ready to attack. Naruto twisted around the strike aiming for his sternum, pushing the stretched arm away from his body. Neji used this and leant to try and kick Naruto, who promptly ducked under the leg, spinning on his heel as he stood back up. His left arm rose as his right hand grabbed his opposite wrist to block the right hook Neji launched at him. The fight took on the appearance of a dance with Naruto elegantly weaving around the attacks without one so much as grazing him. Not letting himself get careless he knew that while Neji was a Hyuuga and thussly talented at taijutsu, the genin would wear himself out, long before Naruto would begin to tire. "Is all you can do run away? I guess after spending so much time with that excuse of a Hyuuga I call a cousin," Naruto flicked back to attention. "Her cowardice would start rubbing off eventually," The fist aimed at his temple stopped just shy of the blow, the crowd gasped as Naruto had caught Neji's wrist at the last second.

"Ex-goddamn-scuse you," He growled "But you should not badmouth a friend of mine,"

"A friend?! Ha! I suppose rejec- oof!" Neji's hauty remark was cut off midway as Naruto punched him in the gut.

"Until you can prove you're our better," The Hyuuga suddenly skidded back several feet. Neji dashed forwards again, repeating his first attack. Naruto put himself into a ready position and narrowed his eyes. His arm moved almost autonomously, his forearm striking away Neji's wrist. His other hand flat struck Neji's chest, just powerful enough to wind him. As Neji stumbled back he smirked.

"You missed,"

"Who said I was aiming for the tenketsu?" Pushing himself off the concrete, Naruto planted his hand on Neji's shoulder and jumped over his opponent. His feet the floor and as his knees bent he _pulled_. Neji came stumbling back into his leg and fell backwards, the blond launched him across the arena. Neji got to his feet and growled. "You see Hyuuga, I'm not a big believer of fate or destiny, the village hates and despises me right now, but I'm still going to become Hokage one day! And I'll prove it by beating you here and now!"

"You've yet to actually attack me and I doubt you could so much as scratch me, Dead Last," Naruto simply raised his hand and flexed his fingers.

"Tag, you're it," Neji glared as his hand rose to his face.

"Byakugan!" The veins on his face popped up as the dojutsu activated. "Now your destruction is all but assured,"

"Now now Hyuuga, don't go making promises you can't keep," Naruto bent at the knees, ready to fight. A clone appeared before flickering away. Neji opened his mouth before ducking under the clone's sweeping kick. His torso twisted to face the new clone but he quickly had to jump away as a second clone appeared behind him again. Naruto began running. Neji landed and stepped backwards into a combative stance. A third clone and he dodged again, with a fourth his body twisted to avoid the attacks. The original Naruto smirked as the clones all puffed into smoke, blinding Neji. The blond closed in and brought his arms together, laying one hand over the other. His wrists snapped up and knocked Neji's hands up as the Hyuuga attempted a double palm strike. Naruto pushed the heels of his palms forwards, striking Neji off balance. Immediately he followed through wrapping one of his arms around Neji's as he stepped past the stumbling Hyuuga. His body came to a dead stop and his foot lifted to hit the back of Neji's knee causing him to buckle. On his remaining foot, Naruto pivoted to lock Neji's arm behind his back. His other hand flicked to his kunai pouch and brought one to rest under the Hyuuga's chin. The whole encouter lasted less time than the smoke. As it cleared away the audience was left seeing Naruto holding Neji in a lock, ready to kill. The silence was grippable.

"Winner Naruto Uzumaki," The procter announced, the kunai was put away and Neji thrown to the ground.

"We'll see how much fate can help now you've lost to the Dead Last," The blond turned on his heel and walked out of the arena, ignoring the crowds that now cheered for him. 

Izuku was standing in the corridor between the seating area and the preparation rooms. "Naruto, nice win," His brother congradulated him. "We'll have some Ichiraku to celebrate when this is over,"

"Alright," The blond nodded, just happy to be out of the arena.

"They're all going to have some questions, sit with Sasuke, Sakura and Ino, don't say anything you don't want to, and ignore the green spandex wearing clone of Guy sensei, please,"

"You got it,"

"And next time you fight an opponent, don't insult them by holding back," The greenette walked away towards the preperation rooms, "Now go sit down, I have to fight Gaara,"

"Good lock with that dude," The two shared a fist bump as they walked in opposite directions. Naruto calmly made his way towards the seating area, barely making it past the doorway before Sakura and Ino greeted him.

"That was awesome Naruto!" Sakura smiled pumping her fists, "You didn't get hit once, you gotta teach us how to dodge like that!" Ino nodded in excited agreement.

"We thought you were in trouble after neji started using the Byakugan but you had him on the ropes the whole time!" The three sat down with Sasuke, ignoring the stares from the other genin. Sasuke was sat counting a stack of bills.

"Naruto," A small stack was thrown his way. "You won with a hundred and fifty to on odds, Izuku put the week's shopping down and we're good for three whole years,"

"You guys bet on my fight?"

"Izuku did, he knew you'd win and more specifically how," Sasuke continued counting bills. "He bet not only on you winning but also using only one tool, the odds went from one-fifty to about three-thousand to one," Naruto gaped for a moment. "Izuku already claimed all the winnings, he asked me to use the Sharingan to count it all quickly, everything is going towards getting us our own place, maybe even a compound for the Uzumaki clan to restart once we're all adults,"

"Restart the clan? But Uzushiogakure was destroyed, the Uzumaki are literally all over the world,"

"Most Uzumaki are red heads, you're the only exception, even then, Izuku wants to bet it's because the Namikaze men were predominately blond," Sasuke stated plainly, "Izuku suspects Danzo will have answers, maybe even Orochimaru," The raven-haired boy kept flicking stacks with his thumb like boring flipbooks. "Most of the winnings are disappearing for funds towards the compound and an actual house, so what we're left with should cover groceries for winter," Naruto shrugged, not really caring for the money after Danzo was mentioned. The rat-bastard was a deceptive, merciless cruel waste of life, it wouldn't be surprising to find out that he had captured the Uzumaki survivors to run 'experiments' on them. Which would just entail torturing them until they died. The Cloud wouldn't have any as they were the main orchestrators of the Whirlpool villages destruction, the Stone may have a few, as well as the Rain but the Mist probably had low chance due to their kekki genkai civil-war. If Orochimaru had some insight, maybe they could beat it out of the snake sannin when he showed his face. The two boys were so engrossed in their conversation that they weren't paying attention to Izuku and Gaara brawling it out. That was, until the sand began flying. Gaara's seal was a mockery of the art to Naruto, whoever did the modified seal thought themselves a genius and for that alone Naruto wanted to smack them across the face. The seal didn't stop Shukaku's chakra from seeping into Gaara, mixing with the redheads' own chakra balance, making control almost impossible. Not to mention the fact Gaara faced serious chakra poisoning as time wore on, his pathways were already in danger after housing Shukaku so dangerously for twelve years, the boy was weakening with each jutsu. All it took was some stress and the chakra overtook the boy's mind, turning him into a crazed killer. As people began evacuating Izuku appeared on the rails in front of the four.

"Ino, Sakura, help evacuate, the invasion's coming any second now and we need fighters reday to stall for time, Naruto, handle Gaara, Sasuke on me," Gaara's physcotic laugh permeated the air as the green haired boy grabbed Sasuke and both disappeared.

"Girls, go," Ino and Sakura nodded to him as he jumped onto the rails and rushed to meet Gaara. The sand targeted him immediately and there was a lot of it. A rasengan broke apart the streams that would hit him easily but there was too mnay to defend from all at once. He pulled out a seal and threw the small scroll over Gaara's sand streams. 'Kurama, can you talk to Shukaku? We need him to try and reign in his chakra away from Gaara'

**'I will try kit but I cannot promise results, the seal will probably stop Shukaku from taking the chakra Gaara is using back,'**

'Perfect a war of attrition then, just try keep Shukaku calm in the mindscape, if you see Gaara there, keep him calm too'

**'On it'**

Naruto looked to where the scroll currently rested in the air and watched it poof into a decent sized log. Sand closed in from all sides and Naruto waited for the last second before swapping places. "Sand Burial!" The sand hit the ground and grew into a pyramid before shrinking to something abotu as high as Naruto's waist. Yup, definitely avoiding that one. Tiring out Gaara and Shukaku would take a whole lot of work, the solid defence meant hit and run tactics were useless and Gaara would lose interest quickly if Naruto wasn't attacking all the time. His mind raced for a plan that would work without doing too much damage but nothing seemed feasable. 

**'Kit you need to knock them out, the boy told me that the chakra has taken control, right now he will not listen to reason and Shukaku cannot pull his chakra back! They told me to tell you about the small of the back, it is the weak spot of the sand armour,'**

'Alright, stick with them and let me know if they start getting control back' He stooped low and began dodging sand spears. Gaara's body was facing him but luckily that played to his favor. No-one expects you to disappear during a straight charge, especially if you reappear right behind them at point blank range. Using the ring end of a kunai Naruto jabbed the small of Gaara's back, _hard._ Cracks began spreading from the boy's back and outwards around his body until whole chunks of the boy began falling off, reavealing the red body of a jinchuuriki consumed by chakra. Naruto needed to end this quickly now the sand wasn't slowing Gaara down. He flickered to Gaara's front and unleashed a powerful blow to wind the boy, it would take an almighty blow to knock out Gaara in his state. His forehead protector sat tightly on his head as he grabbed Gaara's shoulders and looked at the sky. 'Kurama, please do not be mad' The world blurred until pain shot through his head. Gaara's face went slack as the body slowly peeled into human skin the sand all shrinking to the ground with a hiss. Both boys sank to their knees before laying on the ground. Naruto rubbed his forehead gingerly, Izuku would scold him for using such a barbaric move but honestly? It was the best he could think of, Kurama had taught him about how strong the Tailed Beasts were. Regular ninjutsu and taijutsu wouldn't work, Naruto couldn't do genjutsu so it was either pull out Kurama's power or get Gaara while he was disorientated and given the enclosed space they were in. It was a split second decision and Naruto would make it again.

"Okay," Gaara groaned "I think I'm ready for the new seal," Naruto began to chuckle. "Man that hurt!"

"I headbutt you with steel, course it's going to hurt," They both forced themselves to sit up.

"You boy!" They looked to see the Kazekage lowering himself on a cloud of gold sand. "Your irksome brother just saved me from Orochimaru's betrayal, even after I ignored his warnings, the Sand will be withdrawing from this tournament to start making amends after that Snake's manipulation, I suggest you go and help him before something happens,"

"Alright, but Gaara has to stay a few days so we can sort out the seal, Fuinjutsu is a speciality of mine and that seal is the root of the problems Gaara has,"

"It will be arranged, now hurry before Orochimaru does something drastic, I believe they were heading towards the Lookout Tower? Whatever that is?"

"Thank you, Kazekage-sama, I look forward to our next meeting," And with a Flying Raijin, he was gone.

"Gaara, I am sorry I did not listen to you,"

"That is in the past now father, the Uzumakis have taught me the benefit of not holding onto hate," The two slowly began leaving the building.

"Shukaku contained, situation?" Naruto came to a stop on one foot by Sasuke's shoulder.

"Well, I got the pleasure of fighting Lord First and Second while Gramps and Izuku fight Orochimaru,"

"First and Second? But that means,"

"Yes," A deep voice interrupted, "He's used a forbidden jutsu to summon our souls back into mortal coils," The second Hokage appeared in front of them, with kunai ready to strike. Insinctively Naruto kicked the arm away and pulled Sasuke back. "He's ordered our bodies to fight you, we have no control, even elder brother is struggling to fight it,"

"Well, since you have a known dislike of the Uchiha Second, I believe I shall let Sasuke fight First," Naruto grabbed the reanimated man's wrist, marking him immediately. The older shinobi forced him to move away with a kunai attack before weaving signs for a jutsu. Naruto created several Shadow Clones and they all began to charge the Second Hokage. Most attacks were quickly dispelled however Naruto was able to land some blows while creating his smokescreen. Second grunted as a Rasengan struck his stomach, a Naru-clone delivered on to his back at the same time, trapping the reanimated shinobi in between the two spheres of pure chakra. Both Naruto's leapt away as the orbs expanded, consuming the Hokage between them. 

"Naruto, catch!" A kunai sailed towards him from Izuku's direction, "That tag should undo the reanimation effect,"

"If he studied my works right," Naruto grabbed the kunai and snapped the tag off it before throwing the blade at Second.

"Izubro is much smarter than you were Second, but had you not made this jutsu, we wouldn't be in this position," The silver haird Hokage avoided the blade, allowing Naruto to get close and slap the tag onto his ribcage.

"Ngh!" He fell to one knee.

"Tobirama!" First Hokage yelled, jumping towards Naruto. Sasuke was faster though, catching up to the godlike shinobi and slapping an indentical tag on his back. Both Hokages looked at the duo.

"You are strong for children,"

"Well you didn't do us many favors, there's been three Ninja World Wars, if you aren't someone's enemy, you're a target for someone else," Sasuke shook his head as he put a hand to his hip. "Not to mention Second slighting the Uchiha made them enemies in their own home, Danzo manipulated someone into killing the entire clan save for myself and my elder brother,"

"That rat, I knew he was too untrustworthy," The bodies began to flake.

"Is there any hope for peace?"

"I don't know First, we're going to find Danzo and bring him to justice, then we shall see if there's any damage control we can do," Naruto shrugged "Hopefully we can make peace once I'm Hokage myself," First laughed a hearty laugh.

"Well if everyone starts thinking like you boys, the world may be in good hands after all," The bodies fully decayed into flakes as two bright souls slowly drifted towards the sky. 

"Kami if I hear Wood clone jutsu ever again, it'll be too soon, do you know hwo dry my throat is after all those fireballs?" Sasuke coughed.

"We'll get drinks at home, for now we-,"

"HIRUZEN I SWEAR TO KAMI YOU FINISH THAT JUTSU I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!" Izuku's roar interrupted their thoughts as they turned to see the greenetted fighting the Sannin while Grampa Third was casting a jutsu. Both boys paled as they saw a ghostly apparation appear behind the old shinobi. "NARUTO, SASUKE, HOLD THE SNAKE!" The blond grabbed his friend and they were next to Izuku, who was holding a tanto again. The grappled for a moment with the snake shinobi before Naruto used several Shadow clones to hold weigh Orochimaru down. The three all turned their attention to Sarutobi and Izuku.

"Repear death seal!"

"That's a shinigami!" Sasuke realized, Naruto wasn't sure if they could get paler or not. The ghostly embodiement of death drew their tanto from the holder in their mouth and prepared to stab Grampa Third. Nobody expected what happened next.

**Shliing**

**crash**

Izuku deflected the ghotsly blade with his own, causing it to strike the ground by Gramp Third's feet.

 _"YOU DARE INTTERUPT A SACRIFICE BOY!!?"_ The Shinigami wailed at an ear piercing tone. Izuku stared down the god, his sword still as stone.

"There is no sacrifice here, return what you have taken or I will show you death,"

 _"YOU THINK YOU CAN THREATEN ME? I WILL HAVE YOUR SOUL FOR ETERNITY!"_ The wind began to buffer everyone on the tower before the Shingami looked expectantly at Izuku.

"Cute," A whirlwind began around the greenette as the floor cracked below him even the ghost hair of the Shinigami were taken by the storm. A light green flare burned around the figure, trailing into the air. The Shinigami began screeching and tried to stab Izuku. The boy's blade was coated in the same green as his body as he sliced towards the murderous article. Naruto watched with pure fear as the green cut through the grey and sent the tip of the blade spiraling through the air. There was silence as Izuku put his feet back together and his blade away. "Now return the soul and the chakra sealed away," A bloodcurdling screech filled the air, threatening to burst everyone's ear drums. All at once Naruto saw a dark red chakra ball burst from the Shinigami's chest and rocket towards him as a white whisper escaped from its mouth. 

**'Kit do not run, this chakra is familair'** The dark flame struck Naruto's chest and dissolved into his skin. It didn't burn nor hurt, it just warmed his skin and somehow energized him. **'Oh, that is right, your father split my chakra when he sealed me'** Kurama flexed in Naruto's mindscape. **'I wonder how Izuku learned that'**

"Run," Izuku growled at the Shinigami before it disappeared into the wind. He sighed heavily and watched the white mist float upwards. 

"Did you... Did you just intimidate a Shinigami?"

"Yes and no," He yawned "I spent a lot of time studying the Second's jutsus, the Reaper Death Seal requires a Shinigami, a god of death, they normally are immune to genjutsu of any kind,"

"So, how did you?"

"I put everyone here under a genjutsu, a Shinigami is immune because it percieves what the mortals around it percieves,"

"So by putting everyone here in a genjutsu you were effectively able to trick the Shinigami?" Sasuke shook his head "You are just full of surprises,"

"Hey, gotta put the Primal chakra to use somehow," A very heavy yawn and then everyone's focus was back on Orochimaru, who was still trapped by Sasuke and several Narutos. "Now Sannin, you saw what I could do, care to listen to me?"

"I'm a bit of a, captive audience right now Izuku, I have no choice," A coy smile.

"Good, open your mouth, but if you think of sending out any snakes I will personally gut you like an eel," The yellow eyed Sannin lowered his jaw Naruto watched in shock as Izuku grabbed the forked tongue and pulled it out. "Sarutobi, you should look at this," The Third Hokage hobbled over and gasped as he saw.

"That's ROOT marking, Danzo put it on his men to make sure they were loyal, that seal turns them into his minions," Izuku let go of the appendage and socked Orochimaru in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Well once you have your experts remove it we can start asking him some questions," Izuku shook his head. ANBU began landing on the rooftop and took the sannin away from the boys. "We'll be in your office tomorrow morning,"

"I'll be expecting you, dont' be late,"

"What do look like, Kakashi?" Even the ANBU cracked a chuckle at his quip. The three boys leapt away from the rooftop, heading for home.

"Are you guys nuts?!" Sakura stood at the door in front of the three boys with Ino by her side. "Going against the First and Second Hokages by yourselves? Not to mention you Izuku decided to go against Orochimaru again!" All three boys raised their hands in surrender as Sakura folded her arms.

"I- we're sorry Sakura, but we had to fight, otherwise the village wouldv'e been destroyed," The blond tries, "Besides the Hokage were much weaker because Orochimaru doesn't know their full power," A tic mark formed on the pinkette's forehead. "It's not like we wanted to fight them, they are the Hokages, but we just didn't want anyone to get hurt,"

"You Idiot that's what the ANBU are for,"

"The ANBU were occupied with the confused Suna-nin, the forces were ordered to retreat shortly after the seige began and then suddentl the Kazekage is there to discuss what Orochimaru had done to decieve and use them, they didn't even know about the fight until the Shinigami showed up," Sasuke quickly planted a hand over Izuku's mouth at that while Sakura's eyebrow twitched and Ino lifted a hand to her mouth.

"YOU GUYS FOUGHT A SHINIGAMI!?"

"No?" Sasuke ventured, he shrunk under the pinektte's gaze, "Naruto, tap in,"

"Uhhh," Both girls rounded on him, "We didn't fight it persay, Izuku put us all under a genjutsu to decieve it and get it to go away, on the plus it released the other half of Kurama dad took with him when he sealed Kurama into me," He rubbed the back of his head shyly, "So uh, no harm no, foul?"

"No harm no?" Sakura just gaped, "Naruto do you know what could've happened?"

"The village would've been destroyed,"

"You three could've died, as in all at once, the Hokages could've killed you, Orochimaru could've killed you and then there's a Shinigami that would've taken your souls for eternity," The blond's brain suddenly clicked as he saw Sakura frown.

"I'm sorry for worrying you Sakura, I wasn't thinking like that when the fighting was happening, I just, our bodies moved on their own," Tentatively he took her into a hug "I promise to try think before I jump in next time," He stretched out an arm and invited Ino in too. "I get you guys are mad at us but please, we didn't mean to scare you or anything, promise,"

"Alright, we forgive you, but you guys have to cook something nice tonight, we need a break from training after all that,"

"Hai, hai," Izuku waved his hand as he walked past them, "Guess it's some Ichiraku style ramen then, Sasuke you know the rules,"

"Shut it," The last Uchiha muttered as he began laying the table. As Naruto went to help Izuku Sakura gripped the wrist of his sleeve gently.

"We were really scared you were going to die Naruto," She faced the floor.

"I promise I won't do it again Sakura, Ino, I promise to try my hardest to come back everytime, okay?"

"I'll accept that for now," The pinkette nodded, "Now I think Izuku needs some help cooking," Tutting Naruto moved back on his path to his brother. This evening was a welcome pause from ninja life.

"We managed to remove the seal but we're unsure if Orochimaru is willing to talk," Grampa Third straightened some papers on his desk. Naruto watched his brother walk past him and open a window. "So I am planning to send some people from T and I over, I know catching Danzo means a lot to you but we might not be able to get answers immediately,"

"Well if getting answers is what you're after," Izuku smiled as a single black bird flew into the room. "I think I know a guy that can help," A flock of crows began filling the room until a lean figure stood in the centre of the room. They had short, dark hair, a plain crimson coloured robe down to their ankles, open toed sandals and a straw hat to finish the look. Naruto recognized them immediately.

"Itachi," Sasuke whispered as he gazed at his brother.

"Hokeage-same, Naruto, Izuku, Sasuke," The man greeted the four occupants of the room, "I recieved word from Izuku a few weeks ago that my mission became common knowledge, or at least the fact I was forced into doing it,"

"It'll have to be now," Sarutobi grumbled, "Izuku does your paperwork making abilities know no bounds?"

"Not yet Grampa, not yet,"

"Well, I would like to say that it is only me coming back but I'm afraid I am in the company of two more,"

"That's ri- wait, two?" Izuku went from knowingly nodding to shakign his head in confusion. Their eyes moved to the window as two argumentative voices bickered.

"Are you sure we're going the right direction? I feel like we've turned left too much,"

"I'm following 'Tachi's trail, shut up,"

"Oh I'm sorry my sense of direction went a bit shit after I y'know LOST MY EYES!"

"Do you want me to drop you? Cuz that's how you get dropped," A blur and suddenly another figure carrying a second landed in the room. A blond teen with eyes red enough to be Sharingan and a black haired man with a konoha hitai-ate over his eyes. Even with the feature covered Naruto recognized the man.

"Shisui?" He stepped forwards, Izuku stepped backwards as the red-eyed blond scanend the room before settling on the greenette himself.

"You," The boy gaped,

"Me,"

"But.... But how, you died, you're dead!"

"So is he," Izuku nodded at Shisui.

"Wait you mean you didn't tell them?" Shisui accused a bookcase.

"Over here cuz," Itachi coughed "And no, I didn't have the time nro the opportunity to inform them, even Izuku's Shadow Clone didn't stick around long enough for me to tell him,"

"You saved him?" Izuku whispered, "But you said,"

"It was you that gave me the idea Izuku, when you made a Shadow Clone to get Naruto while you helped Sasuke, I had one of my own find Shisui and nurse him back to a point I could transport him to the Uchiha compound, where I took your friend these last few weeks,"

"Who is this anyway?" Sasuke nodded at the boy carrying Shisui, "Hopefully he's smarter than this dope,"

"Hopefully he can cook better than the emo," They poked their tongues at each other as Izuku coughed.

"Guys this is the one I told you about, the guy I was going to save when I went back to Musutafu," Shisui was put down as Izuku drew nearer the pair. "This is the first brother I ever had,"

"Katsuki Bakugo,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys note time again! So a few chapters back I "Adapted" a song for this fic as a sort of jokey way to show how different the characters are. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet but if there's any song you think would work drop 'em in comments and I'll see if I can ninja-fy them.  
> Thoughts and opinions are welcome like always and hopefully it won't be such a long wait for the next update.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	12. Adjusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nice conversation.  
> A long pause.  
> "Now what do you say?"  
> "Go with them, it will be better for you,"

"Katsuki Bakugo,"

"Just Katsuki right now, I'm not a Bakugo, just like you're not a Midoriya," Naruto was immediately on the defensive.

"Where did you learn that name?"

"It was his," Katsuki flicked his eyes to the greenette "Until he disappeared when we were seven,"

"And now you're here, which is very helpful since I have six years to train you instead of the few months I thought I'd have,"

"You've been doing it for eight years, I'm already a few months into their,"

"Yes but they haven't trained me for five years, my regime is much, much harder than it used to be, that's the routine you will be on from now on, Uzumaki Katsuki," A pointed glance and a heavy sigh,

"I'll deal with the paperwork once Orochimaru has given us answers,"

"Shisui-sensei," Izuku suddenly exclaimed, "Did you want,"

"No Izuku, I gave the eyes to you because I trust you with them, if the world thought I was back with my eyes then I'd just have that target on my back again, besides, I'm getting used to fighting without sight, just don't ask me to pour some tea,"

"He has no idea what he's doing in a fight and misses every mark even after trying to hone his other senses," Itachi grumbled,

"Hey don't give away all my secrets,"

"I, sensei my eyes are still good,"

"He's kept them in a jar in his nightstand," Naruto snickered "Honestly the creepiest thing I've ever seen,"

"Wait Izuku you don't have your eyes?!" Katsuki stepped backwards, "Isn't that, like a super complex surgery?"

"Not really," The greenette waved his hand slightly, "You just," With two fingers on his left hand Izuku mimed scooping out his own eye, "Then you," His palm splat against his face over his eye. "Leave a few bandages around the eyes for a while and then bang new eyes,"

"Although weirdly enough Izuku is the only non-Uchiha that could control the Sharingan, even when it's Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan," Sasuke added with the blond nodding in the background. 

"I figured as much, Primal chakra is super complicated,"

"I'm not from this world, I'm not bound by its rules, seems pretty simple to me," A casual shrug, the sound of his eyes swirling filled the room, "But I recently saw in the mirror that the pinwheel has a diamond centre, was it like that for,"

"No I had a circle hence the four-point pinwheel," Shisui nodded "It's like you said Izuku, you aren't bound by the laws of our world, so you've got your very own Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan," The blind shinobi hummed, "Maybe you can use Kotoamatsukami as often as I could instead of like once every ten years or something ridiculous like that,"

"I don't know I don't use Kotoamatsukami, there hasn't been any need to yet,"

"At least Danzo didn't get hold of them," Shisui shrugged

"Danzo?"

"I'll explain later," Izuku shook his head to the crimson eyed boy. A throat was cleared loudly.

"Now that the reunion is out of the way, we need to see Orochimaru,"

"I'll stay here and fill in Katsuki abotu the goings on over the last few years," Izuku nodded as the rest of the group stood up and left, as the door closed Naruto could hear Izuku. "So remember when we were four?"

The snake sannin was sat in a holding cell among his underlings, they were all chained and had chakra restraining tags applied. The five all looked up as the cell door was grated open. Naruto, Sasuke, Shisui, Itachi and Grampa Third waited at the door. "Orochimaru, you recently had a ROOT seal removed meaning that you can actually tell me the entire turth now, when was the mark applied,"

"Shortly before you found my lab and exiled me sensei, you must understand I did not want to do those expirements, Danzo ordered me to find a way to use Senjutsu without Hashirama cells, he also ordered me to try and capture the last Uchiha so he could have the eyes since Shisui's disappeared with his body," The white skinned man nodded "Which I now know is a falsehood since I saw the eyes in young Uzumaki in our fight in the Forest of Death,"

"Danzo really got around didn't he?" Itachi growled "I was barely able to avoid getting it myself,"

"I must apologize for anything I said while we were working together after your exile Itachi, I was-,"

"Do not worry about it Orochimaru, I do not blame you for anything you did or said under Danzo's control," The older Uchiha lifted a hand slightly to placate the sannin. "His modified Bird Cage Seal is absolute, there is nothing you can't say that he doesn't want you to say," Orochimaru seemed close to weeping. "We need to ask a few questions about Danzo and his operations,"

"All I can tell you is what he had me doing,"

"Then that is all we ask of you," Grampa Third nodded. Naruto watched them for a moment before something caught his eye, it wasn't much, just a flash of red hair, but that was all that was needed to take the attention of the Uzumaki blond. He quickly moved into the cell, past Orochimaru and stood in front of the four ninja that had attacked them in the forest. The rotund man glared at him first, the silence bringing his presence to the other three.

"Come to gloat how you defeated our sensei?" Naruto just pointed to the red-haired girl.

"Uzumaki," Her eyes widened and stared at him, "Born into the Uzumaki clan," She sneered at him,

"And what are you,"

"Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina," The four gaped at him.

"Tayuya Uzumaki, my parents never told me their names, they died when I was younger,"

"I'm sorry, my parents died when I was born, I only know because I broke into records the Hokage wanted me to never find," Several heads perked up.

"Sensei, you kept the boy's lineage from him?" Orochimaru stared wide eyed.

"I believed it was necassary at the time, however he and his adopted brother, along with Sasuke here disproved that quite easily," Grampa Third sighed, "Are you sure your home has enough space to take another member Naruto?"

"It doesn't need it," Izuku's voice made them all jump as the green and red eyed duo stood at the door. Izuku was rubbing his jaw mutedly, "I had a Shadow clone go out this morning, the lease is sighed under Naruto's name thanks to transformation, we move in this evening, nice house on the edge of the village, nice garden, many rooms, larger living space, better kitchen, just generally an improvement,"

"Very well, I'll organize the paperwork once their sentences are decided,"

"There isn't any paperwork, Hokage-sama," Itachi interrupted, upon recieving several glances he continued, "She has admitted to being an Uzumaki, that makes her a ward of the Uzumaki clan, of which Naruto is currently the head, her punishment is a matter for only you and he to decide,"

"Well I'll be,"

"After the Kyuubi's attack I studied several laws pertaining to clans and criminals, since it was a long running theory an Uchiha controlled him," Naruto nodded,

"Kurama told me it was, a one-eyed Uchiha, with a swirling maks around his eye, Kurama is the Kyuubi's name by the way," Itachi and Shisui nodded in understanding, they had both been missing while Naruto and Kurama grew close.

"If that's the case her fate can be decided much sooner than the others, with their co-operation and Orochimaru's admittance of the seal on his tongue, the shinobi council will see this as a victory,"

"But what of the civilian council?" Shisui questioned.

"Disbanded, Danzo used them to go behind my back far to often, the curriculum in the academy was the change I needed to remove their power entirely"

"Yes!" Itachi suddenly cheered, surprising everyone, immediately he regained his calm demeanour. "Apologies, it is just the civilian council has always been my biggest means for annoyance," Izuku suddenly coughed and moved next to Naruto.

"A blood-born Uzumaki you say? Rare to stumble across one after the fall of Uzushiogakure, you can call me Izuku, I was adopted into the clan many years ago," The greenette bowed to the redhead, "It is a pleasure to meet you, I am sure you are in shock over this development, however I am sure that Naruto and I are of the same mind and would love to have you join us in our home, the new one I mean, it has plenty of room,"

"Yeah, yeah, absolutely," Naruto nodded feverently.

"But we do not wish to pressure you into this decision, please think it over today, we will return this evening to either take you with us or further discuss your sentencing, rest assured however, since your own leader was being manipulated like a puppet it will not be severe," Izuku stood up giving a megawatt smile. "As for you three, your fighting in the forest was incredible, if you are so inclined, having you in our forces after the probation periods end would be stellar,"

"W-wh," Tayuya began,

"Why am I trying to help you?" Izuku smirked, his shoulders bounced once with a small laugh, "Because I want to be a hero, and a hero helps everyone in need, even those that were enemies at one point, now if you will excuse us, my brother and I have some things to pack," As they left the cell, they were stopped by Shisui and Itachi. "Senseis?"

"You really want to be a hero?" Shisui was pensive, "Even if it means helping those from your home?"

"Shisui, if you take anything from this encounter, know this, _that_ place is not my home Konoha is, and if I do decide to return, it will be to save those that need it, even if I think they do not deserve it," Itachi raised an eyebrow, "If they are beyond saving then so be it, I am a shinobi first and a hero second, now Naruto really must go and let Sakura know we are moving," Naruto prepared to say something when Izuku grabbed him and they whisked away to their small apartment.

"Wait seriously?" Sakura sat down on her bed, "Izuku really got us a house?"

"In my name too, it's so weird," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, we're not even _thirteen_ and here I am with a house to my name along with like a few million ryo, do you know how much ramen that could buy?!" Sakura just shook her head.

"You can take the ramen from the boy," She muttered, laying down. "It's just, I mean, yay, new house, bigger room, better space, a proper kitchen, maybe even a second bathroom but it's just,"

"Strange? Scary?"

"Yeah, I, when I ran from home, this was the place I came to, because I knew you were going to answer the door, but you're not going to answer this door anymore, none of us will," Her arm moved up to her face "Does that make me sound weird?"

"Not at all," Naruto sat down next to her, "This is the only place I've ever know, first thing I asked Izuku to do was help me save enough to outright buy this place, which we did, but now he's gone and put another place down in my name, I know, we'll never answer this door again, but you should know by now," He nudged her ribs with heir lower arm, "I'll always answer the door when it's you knocking,"

"Thanks,"

"No problem Sakura, that's just what friends do,"

"Yeah, friends," Her voice seemed slightly dejected as she turned her head away from him. "Do you ever hate me for what I did? How I treated you?"

"Back in the academy?" A small nod, "No, not really anyway, honestly I envied you sometimes, getting to be so carefree, innocent, hell you even had two more parents than I ever will, even if they are shitty people,"

"You can say that again,"

"But no, I never hated you, and I never will, absolutely I used it against you in your training to get you to listen and hell yeah I will give you shit for it when you get snappy, but hate you? No," He leant back on his arms. "This place was where we brought Sasuke after the massacre, it's the first place someone cooked me food other than ramen, no Izuku wasn't the first, that was Itachi, fried eggs and bacon, after training for a few hours and discovering I had no-one at home, Itachi and Sasuke all but moved in, cooking for me every night, coming to get me every morning, even packing me a lunch," A heavy sigh, "It's where we dragged your stuff in from the rain, where Ino discovered there was more to us than she thought, where Kurotsuchi and Izuku suggested we had the movie night that one time,"

"This apartment is special," Naruto let himself hit the mattress,

"No this apartment is nothing more than brick and mortar, it's the _peopl_ _e_ , the memories, the stuff _we_ brought into it, and it'll be the same for the next place and best part? I'll be right across the hallway,"

"You mean?" Sakura sat up and twisted to sit against the headboard of her bed, facing Naruto.

"Yup, we got five rooms, Shisui and Itachi are probably going to move in, so it'll be an Uchiha room, and Uzumaki boys' room and a girls' room, leaving two spare rooms to storage for now,"

"An Uzumaki boys' room?" Her foot poked his side.

"Well you see, Danzo was pulling the strings behind the attack, he was controlling Orochimaru through a seal, so Orochimaru's underlings were essentials a puppet's puppets, they're going to get off a lot easier than we thought they would, which is good because one of them is an Uzumaki,"

"It's the redhead chick isn't it?"

"Yeah, her name is Tayuya, we still don't know if she's going to move in or not though,"

"Hopefully she does, honestly it's going to be a bit strange if I'm the only girl in a house with what, five guys in it?" 

"I mean, Ino could always move in if she wants to, she's here all the time anyway," Sakura squealed.

"Seriously? She was going to ask Izuku about it soon,"

"Izuku was the one to suggest it, he said and I quote, Yamanaka is here all of the time anyway, might as well give her a room and save time, it also means her training can be monitored better too,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember when you came to get us because she passed out in the training field?" His head rolled to look at her, "It's because she was putting in extra training at home and overworking herself, ever since Izuku has been really strict about it,"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's just how he shows he cares, remember, he never had a supportive family, so he's trying to figure it out as he goes,"

"I guess, but you never had anyone either until you had him right?" Her feet crept onto his chest

"Well, that's not entirely true," Naruto lamented, "He didn't live here until he was actually seven, but we met when we were four, Itachi and Shisui were like older brothers to me, since I saw them everyday, but Izuku could only see them on the weekends, or a week if his academy had holidays, but it was only after we lost Itachi and Shisui that Izuku moved into Konohagakure,"

"Oh,"

"Yeah, but he's not let that get him down, if anything, now that they're both back he's got more reason to smile than ever!" His arm, which had been pointing at the ceiling with a closed fist fell gently around her ankles. "Hey Ino," Sakura gasped and looked over somewhere Naruto couldn't see.

"You guys are having a cuddle pile without me?"

"A what?" Naruto lifted his head up slightly to try and see the blonde. The girl had already made her way over to them.

"A cuddle pile, Sakura has her feet on your chest and you've got your arm over her ankles,"

"I wouldn't call this a cuddle pile Ino," Sakura flapped a hand, "We're just talking,"

"Uh huh, well move over, I'm joining in," Naruto huffed as Ino's head fell onto his stomach while she laid the opposite side to Sakura, her legs felling off the bed. "So what're we talking about?"

"Well we're moving out of this place," His hand moved from around Sakura's feet into Ino's hair, while his arm still rested on the pinkette's legs. "And you are cordially invited to move in with the group, as Sakura's roommate, since there's going to be five guys in the house, Sakura needs a bit of backup,"

"There's goign to be another Uzumaki as well, her name's Tayuya and she's one of the Sound we fought, Naruto's going to be meeting with Hokage-sama to discuss her punishment,"

"Let me talk to Dad about it, the clan's never been big on staying in the compound anyway, it's more of a communal space for the clan to train and work together,"

"Speaking of clan compounds, what about the Uzumaki one Izuku wants to build?"

"That's all him, far as I'm concerned we could live in an apartment complex, the Uzumaki clan isn't going to be a blood clan for a while, since I've got two adopted brothers now,"

"Two? Where'd the second come from?"

"His name's Katsuki, he's from the same place as Izuku and he knew Izuku before we all did, he's got primal chakra too,"

"So it's just another Izuku?"

"Nah, Katsuki's a blond and he's got bright red eyes that aren't actually a Sharingan,"

"Wait, that means there's going to be six guys in the house!" Sakura exclaimed, "You three in the Uzumaki boys' room, the three in the Uchiha room,"

"And three girls, that's nine people in a house, is it big enough?"

"Izuku said it'd be big enoug, it's bigger than this place anyway, we shouldn't have too much problem,"

"But still that's nine people in a house," Ino stated, "It's going to be crazy dinners I'll say that much, Sakura can you please move your feet from my head?"

"I was here first,"

"And? Move your feet!"

"But I was,"

"Technically I was here first," Naruto interrupted, ending the impending argument, "Sakura could you please just spin around so your feet aren't in Ino's or my faces?" The pinkette groaned softly.

"Fine," Her feet swung over his face as her head barely missed colliding with Ino's and Naruto found the lower half of his vision filled with pink. His arm was lifted and draped under Sakura's chin as his fingers found Ino's hair again. "Is this better?"

"Very much so," His free hand came up to run through her hair.

"Good cuz it's comfy and I'm not moving again," Her head seemed to lean into his hand as he caressed her hair.

"Is there any reason you two like to use me as a pillow?"

"Reassurance," Ino rested her hands on her chest, "Since you are somone important to us we subconsciously keep close in order to make sure you're okay,"

"Studying psycholody? You may have to protect your books from Izuku if he finds out," Sakura snorted,

"Who do you think got her started on it?"

"When he found out I was overworking myself he told me to read a book instead of exercise, he loaned me all the books I needed to start and then suggested i go over the clan stuff, I let him read a book or two every now and again as thanks, turns out he just wanted me to be productive instead of exhausting myself,"

"Yeah that's him, although I didn't realise that's how he curbed your training,"

"What do you think he did?"

"I don't know?" Naruto shrugged, "We were talking about it when I was carrying you back from the training field the third time we found you out cold,"

"Really?" Ino's head lifted off him and landed on the other side of his chest, moving his arm in a similar way to Sakura.

"Uh, you two know that I don't have enough space on me for you to do that right?" Pink and platinum blonde filled his lower vision and he suddenly suppressed the urge to sneeze. Instead, with an arm around each girl, he managed to get his hands together and summon a shadow clone. It poofed into existence besides Ino and immediatly the platinum shifted to the other chest. Laying over Naru-clone entirely, gently moving his arms over her back as her head rested against his sternum. Sakura mimicked the movement on the real Naruto curling up happily. The blond smiled and rested his head back, closign his eyes for a brief minute. Just a quick nap and then they'd be.

"Naruto," An impassive voice made all four individuals jump, Naruto looked over to see Gaara stood at the door, "I know this may seem presumptious but may I request you correct my seal sooner rather than later? Shukaku has been muttering about sleeping ever since you suggested it,"

"Yeah, yeah, sure bro," The Naru-clone got up and walked over to Gaara, "Let's do it now, should be done by dinner if Izuku drops a clone to help,"

"Wonderful, Temari and Kankuro are eager to return home swiftly, Temari claims there is a small boy pestering her about knowing a 'Boss',"

"That's just Konohamaru, Third's grandson, I was his little teams leader for a while in the academy when I'd give them pointers and such," Gaara simply nodded in understanding while Naru-clone chuckled, "Let's get this seal done then," The two walked off chatting amicably. Sakura sighed and shifted of Naruto's chest, resting her head on his shoulder while keeping the same arm around her shoulders. Ino seemingly took this as an invite and rested on Naruto's other shoulder, wrapping said arm around her shoulders.

"Should you have left the seal to the clone?" Ino looked up at him innocently.

"It'll be fine, my Shadow Clone will have all my knowledge so I don't see any problem," He laid his head back, getting ready to take a quick nap.

"Oi," Izuku's voice drawled, "Either get your stuff packed or it's going to be given away, you haven't got time for your little cuddle session," The girls said nothing but shuffled further into Naruto's hold, "Alright, I guess I'm using your stuff as kindling,"

"Don't you dare!" Sakura sat straight up, almost dragging Naruto and Ino with her. They watched her steely gaze get returned tenfold by the greenette.

"Then pack it up, now," He walked out of sight. Sakura climbed off the bed as Naruto groaned and sat up.

"It shouldn't take too long, Ino if you want to go and talk to your dad before packing your things I'll come get you when we've got things there,"

"Got it," The platinum blonde smiled and began walking away, "Since Sakura's getting a hand, could I get a Shadow Clone too?" Naruto smirked and a Naru-clone followed her away.

"The house is nice," He leant forwards in his seat, clasped hands leaning on the table. It was, the door opened straight into a living room space, a staircase on the left wall onto a wall seperating the living area from the kitchen. The main room itself stretched across the house, the sitting and dining areas divided by a counter built into the room. Just before the staircase stood a door to a properly designed bathroom, unlike the semi-tiled barely functioning, endlessly repaired bathroom of old. Upstairs was five rooms, three of which had been turned into bedrooms, the other two left as storage for the moment. There was also a second bathroom to match the first one. Behind the house laid a great garden, part of which Izuku had already turned into a forge to care for their weapons, including a furnace to reamake anything that was broken or beyond repair. At the very end of the garden stood a target range for obvious reasons Izuku has already taken the liberty of using Wood style to grow several trees as well for chakra control training, getting the other two to make a pond in the middle of the trees for the same reason. It had seemed peaceful and tranquil when they first entered.

It last all of five minutes.

Once Ino crossed the doorway and everyone began relaxing, it was unleashed, something that Izuku, while cackling evilly, named chaos. And chaos it was. In several minutes Ino had put plants in almost every corner, Shisui had spilt no less than five cups of tea, Sakura had got herself stuck in the attic and Izuku was chasing Sasuke and Itachi through the property, hollaring after them. "GIVE ME ONE MORE DAMN EXCUSE AND I'LL KNOCK YOU OUT AND SWAP YOUR EYES WITH A RUSTY SPOON!" And Katsuki, poor, poor Katsuki had barricaded himself in the upstairs bathroom. Naruto still had several Shadow Clones trying to organize the mess before Tatyuya decided to join them. Speaking of, he dragged his mind back to the redhead in front of him. She was sat on the other side of the table, Orochimaru stood behind her pensively, only present due to her request. The small room they were in had a mirror on one wall to hide the window that the members of T&I were stood at watching carefully. "There's plenty of room, you'd be bunking with some friends of mine, they'd be happy to share the space, there's a garden with some space for chakra control, training, even taking care of your weapons, the only thing is you need to be good with chaos, because that's what the house is," Tayuya shuffled in her seat not looking him in the eyes. "Like we said back with Gramps, you can either come with me or stay here, you won't be tortured or attacked or hurt either way, this is completely up to you but I would really like it if you came with me," Glimmers began running down the girl's face, a bittersweet smile plastered her features.

"I am supremely grateful for your offer Uzumaki-sama, but I'm afraid,"

"You do not owe me anything Tayuya," Orochimaru voiced quietly, "I took advantage of you and brainwashed you into thinking I was a saviour, I'm not, I was just a puppet collecting more puppets, there will be no vengance if you decided to go with Uzumaki-san,"

"No-one will go after you if you come with me either, once the village knows you are under my protection, no-one will mess with you, there's a lot of controversy surrounding me right now, so don't worry, no matter where you are you'll be under protection," Tayuya seemed to cry openly now, hiccuping as she tried to talk. Naruto calmly stood up and walked around to her side offering a hand to her. "Now what do you say?" Tayuya just cried harder as she stared up at his smile. Her mouth opened but Orochimaru beat her to it.

"She will go with you, regardless of the decision she makes, she must go with you," The blond nodded at the white skinned man, who then turned to his unwitting subordinate, "Go, go with them," His voice was impeccably soft, "It will be better for you, you do not deserve to rot in a cell because of what I manipulated you into doing, what I was forced into making you do, responsibility lies,"

"With Shimura Danzo and Shimura Danzo alone, Orochimaru make no mistake, Gramps, Izuku, Sasuke and I are all giving the village the tongue lashings they desperately need, you won't be trapped in here for very long," Once again the two shinobi nodded to each other in a mutual understanding. Tayuya sniffled from her chair.

"In that case, I would love to cmoe with you Uzumaki-sama," She took his hand smiling widley past her tears.

"So I take it this is just formality?" Izuku spoke from the chair he was lounging in, "Like I could just leave a Shadow Clone if I wanted to?"

"Yes Izuku, you could," Grampa Third sighed "We simply need a witness for the decision," Tayuya was stood nervously fidgeting behind Naruto as the blonde stood discussing what would happen with Grampa Third. "So we are in agreement of what is next?"

"Tayuya is under house arrest for a week after which she will be under ANBU supervision for a further three weeks, if she has done nothing suspicious or anything that could be taken as a sign of disloyalty or planning of attack she will be recognized as a citizen of Konoha and given the chance to become a shinobi as a part of the Uzumaki clan," Naruto nodded, "Are you okay with the Tayuya?"

"Of course Uzumaki-sama, this is far more than I could've prayed for," Izuku groaned from his seat.

"Please, please stop calling him Uzumaki-sama, it'll go to his head, just call him Naruto, he's head of the clan in title, I'm head in all but considering I deal with all the affairs,"

"You volunteered to do it,"

"Of course, because I couldn't have you wasting time you should be using to train, Uzumaki- _sama_ ,"

"You've made your point," Naruto conceded, "Tayuya, you don't have to call me that, just Naruto will do, I'm not above you alright?"

"I understand Uzuma- Naruto,"The redhead nodded. Izuku suddenly sat up in his seat and dashed over to the window. They watched the greenette throw the window shut in time for a white haired man crash into it. His eyes flicked around the room as he comically slid down the window. 

"You can stand down Izuku, that's just Jiraiya, one of my students, in fact he was Minato's sensei,"

"Oh I know, but I didn't close the window because I didn't recognize him, I closed it because I did recognize him," The window was thrust open before Izuku could continue.

"Sensei, I got your message,"

"Oh my god, please tell me you didn't actually make him come here," Izuku whined, the white haired man glared at the greenette before continuing.

"Orochimaru is here?"

"Orochimaru is no longer a threat, Uzumaki Izuku here dealt with the ROOT seal we found under your teammates tongue," Naruto eyeed the man after his Sannin status was revealed. "In fact we discovered that one of his subordinates was in fact a relative of Naruto,"

"That's the blond one, in case you didn't know," Izuku spat with heavy venom, the second Sannin eyed him once more.

"So where are you from then Izuku?"

"I am from a world you should never be allowed near, pervert,"

"Then how are you,"

"Adopted brother of Uzumaki Naruto," The greenette growled "I've been taking care of him for a few years now, y'know, somethign _you_ should've been doing," Naruto's jaw dropped "As his _godfather_ ,"

"Wh-,"

"Itachi Uchiha told me everything about you since you were Minato's teacher and we knew he was Naruto's father," The blond in question just gazed into the distance, "About how you are a world-class pervert, trying to peak on every bathhouse you come across among many other deplorable actions, and how you were supposed to be Naruto's guardian but decided to run away because he looked too much like Minato,"

"Can you really blame me?"

"YES!" Izuku cried, "YES, I can and will, because you were a coward! No shit he'd look like his fucking father! You catastrophic dumbass!"

"Ooh, you got two out of him, that must be a record,"

"Don't patronize me Sarutobi, or you can join this fucking failure of a guardian in a tongue lashing," Naruto stepped back to Tayuya as the greenette continued yelling at Jiraiya, who made the mistake of yelling back.

"Does this, does this happen often?"

"No, he rarely gets mad like this, he never swears normally so getting one out of him is a rare achievement, his highest record at somebody is three when Sakura got caught by a poisoned blade on our mission to the Land of the Waves," His voice became a dull hollar at the Sannin with few parts standing out to him.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME BRAT!"

"YES I FUCKING DO YOU GODDAMN ABSENTEE GODFATHER! DO YOU KNOW THE HELL HE WOULD HAVE GONE THROUGH WITHOUT ME?!"

"HE SEEMS PRETTY FINE TO ME!"

"BECAUSE I WAS HERE FOR HIM, I ENCOURAGED HIM TO KEEP GETTING UP AFTER THE BEATINGS, DEFENDED HIM FROM HOME INVADERS! I WAS THE ONE THAT MADE HIM READ EVERY BOOK IN THE LIBRARY AND TRAIN DAY AND NIGHT!" Jiraiya visibly shrank "AND WHERE WERE YOU? GALAVANTING AROUND THE LANDS PEEPING AND PERVING AND MAKING A NUISANCE OF YOURSELF," The sannin reeled back again. Izuku took a deep breath through his nose and just glared. "Avoiding the one responsibility you had left, letting him get beaten and neglected by the village his father sacrificed his life to save," Naruto watched his brother turn to Grampa Third. "I am officially requesting whatever mission he is on with Naruto is given to Orochimaru or any Jounin or ANBU," Grampa raised his eyebrow, "Just anyone except Jiraiya, not without my supervision or that of someone trustworthy, no Kakashi is not one of them, he's a closet pervert, his loyalty can be bought with the porn this one makes," Jiraiay was about to puff his chest and boast when a side eye from Izuku took all the wind from his sails. "I will not scorn or debate your skills as a shinobi, but as an all round person you suck,"

"Preventing me from being on a mission with Naruto won't help fix the relationship,"

"What relationship?" Naruto voiced bitterly, silencing the others, "If Grampa Third hadn't introduced you I still wouldn't know your name, and if I don't know your name how would I know what you look like? Even your chakra is alien to me," The sannin seemed to break internally as he stared forlornly at Naruto. "Grampa I'm not doing any mission with someone that flakes on a single responsibility, if there's something important going down I'll go with Izuku, if it requires a Sannin, Orochimaru can come with us,"

"You would choose the traitor over the Toad Sage?" Jiraiya cried

"That traitor has given information willingly and freely ever since I was able to not only notice but remove the seal from underneath his tongue, he's also slated to join the intelligence corp once his probabtion is over," Izuku responded in kind "He was also under the control of one Shimura Danzo since before he was exiled," The sannin gaped like a fish for a moment. A cough brought attention back to Gramps.

"Considering how important this mission is, I will assign it to Orochimaru as well as you three, my first plan originally sending just Naruto and Jiraiya," The sanninseemed ready to pass out. "Izuku you will be going unofficially as Orochimaru's watcher, officially as the leader,"

"Sensei you can't be,"

"Uzumaki Izuku was trained by Shisui and Itachi Uchiha, he inherited the eyes of the former as well, when combiend with his Primal chakra and already Jounin level skills, Izuku is a more than capable leader of this mission, considering his request as well as his compartmental analysis of your flaws, many I was too eager to turn a blind eye to, you should be grateful I am allowing you contact with your godson and his adoptive brother, I slighted them once due to my unchecked idiotic sentimentalism, it cost the three Uchiha's their clan, Naruto an actual childhood and the three boys any social life, I am still working towards a point where I can deserve their forgiveness, regardless of if they have forgiven me already," The blond felt his features soften, "I am only sending you along with them to increase the chances of success, otherwise I would simply send Orochimaru in your original stead, do you understand?"

"Yes sensei," Jiraiya nodded his head before leaving quietly.

"Boys I hope you are feeling up to travelling for a while,"

"Why's that Lord Third?" Izuku turned around formally, still winding down from the argument. "What does the mission entail?"

"You are going to find the third Sannin, the person I wish to have as my successor," Tayuya spoke up, reminding them of her presence.

"You mean _her_?" Gramps nodded slowly.

"Senju Tsunade," 


	13. A journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A gambling alcoholic? Do you really want me as your leader?"  
> "No but it's not up to us,"
> 
> "Everyone I loved died,"
> 
> Izuku doesn't often lose his patience.  
> Two of three Sannin have a talent of making him do so.

"Senju Tsunade," They stood in a casino, by lot machines. A platinum blonde sat at one glaring of the spinning wheels. Naruto watched her eyes flick to the four and promptly back to her machine.

"What?"

"You've been summoned by your Hokage," Naruto folded his arms. It had been agreed by the boys that he'd do most of the talking since Izuku had lost his patience with Jiraiya very easily, they weren't very hopeful he'd be calm with the female sannin either. He hoped Tayuya was okay, it had only been a day between getting her into the house and him leaving on a mission.Sasuke had stayed behind since 'someone needs to be the powerhouse' while the two were out of the village.

"I don't listen to the Hokage anymore, I left the village,"

"And that's worked out so well for you hasn't it? A broke gambler with raging alcoholism, yeah, life really doesn't reach higher peaks than this," Izuku rubbed a finger on one of the machines, taking the fine layer of dust off it. Tsunade simply eyed him with spite. The machine dinged and showed that Tsunade had lost her money, with one disc out of line. With a heavy sigh she reached into her purse. Naruto nodded his head and Izuku unfolded one arm, smacking the machine with the side of his fist. The single loose disc spun and an obnoxious siren came to say Tsunade won. Clearly Izuku had broken smoething inside the machine too as Ryo just kept pouring out of it. She gaped open mouthed as Izuku looked on emotionlessly before slowly closing his eyes and sighing deeper than anyone thought possible. Naruto looked at the woman in front of him and began tapping a foot. "This should be enough to clear her numerous debts," Orochimaru coughed lightly.

"Boys, I hate to be the one to tell you this but," He regarded the pile of money "This isn't going to cover all her debts, a good portion sure but not all," Izuku growled and turned on his heel.

"Give me twenty minutes at a Blackjack table," And with the the greenette was gone.

"So are you going to bag this up or am I going to have to seal it for you?"

He couldn't help but rub the bridge of his nose as five figures sat around the table. Izuku was still collecting his winnings from the casino, so it was Naruto, the three sannin and Shizune. Tsunade's trainee slash personal assistant. "Alright from the top it is then," Orochimaru gave him a weak sympathetic smile. The blond definitely wasn't expecting the snake shinobi to be his supporting role. "Danzo used his ROOT seal to control Orochimaru, forcing Orochimaru to do the things that got him exiled, my adopted brother and I were able to remove it and sort out the fallout before it became catastrophic, after the attack by Suna and a controlled Orochimaru, Grampa Third decided it was time for a fifth Hokage, because he's finally realized he's too soft and old for the job, he named you as his successor,"

"No,"

"What?"

"No, I'm not taking the job, three of the Kages gave their lives for the village, and the only surviving one is a senile old man, the job is a joke," Naruto slammed his hands on the table, standing up so fast he knocked his chair over.

"How dare you," He snarled, "Insulting some of the greatest shinobi ever and you call them a joke?"

"What are you goign to do about it pipsqueak?"

"Outside, right now," A challenge if there ever was one, "And to make it fair, I won't use my dad's jutsu on you,"

"Your dad? Who is he?"

"Currently? A stone head on the a mountain, right next to your sensei's," Tsunade faltered a moment, her jaw dropping slightly.

"Naruto?"

"In the flesh, what's it to you?"

"I knew your parents,"

"Everyone knew the Fourth Hokage and the Red Hot Habenero,"

"No, I _knew_ your parents," Tsunade reiterated, "As in I met your father, I trained your mother in medical ninjutsu, swore to protect you as godmother," Orochimaru raised a hand prepared to say something gestured for her to continue. "When the attack happened Danzo told you me you'd died in the crib impaled on the claw along with your parents,"

"And you believed him?"

"You must understand Naruto, the two people I cared for most died days after I gifted them this necklace, in hopes of breaking the cycle I gave it to Minato, with the instructions that it was to go to you after you were born, not a week later and I get news not only Minato but his wife and newborn son were dead," Tears began falling down the sannin's face. The blond simply grasped her hand softly looking her in the eyes.

"Well, I'm here now aren't I?" Enveloping her in a hug gently the woman began truly sobbing, whether it was regret, fear or just relief Naruto didn't know but what he did know, was getting them out of her system was clearly a big improvement.

"That's all she gets? A 'you knew my parents? oh we are cool' and a hug?" Jiraiya glared, Orochimaru raised a hand, actually speaking up this time.

"Well, she was told Naruto was dead, she ran away from the grief and the pain, without responsibilties tied to it, from what I can gather, you simply ran because he looked like Minato with whiskers, so you abaondoned the one responsibility your pupil had left you,"

"I get it, stop driving that part in," Tsunade wiped her eyes as she pulled back from Naruto.

"Wait, Jiraiya you ran away?" 

"You did too!"

"I thought he was dead! I had no way of knowing I had a responsibility to them, to him!" Silence settled in gently before Tsunade hugged Naruto again suddenly. "Right that means I haev thirteen birthdays and Christmases to make up for,"

"Lady Tsunade, perhaps now isn't the best time but," Shizune began to speak up.

"If anyone mentions her not having enough cash," Izuku spoke from the doorway "I may punch you," He threw a small book towards Tsunade. "Your winnings, each seal has about then thousand Ryo," The female sannin flicked through the book, eyes scanning each page carefully. 

"There's easily a million Ryo in the first few pages,"

"Like I said, don't say you have enough cash, many of the patrons hate me right now and yet I still wish to get out of here as soon as possible," The book was snatched out the air as Tsunade threw it back to him.

"I'm not going back, not now and if I take that book I'll owe you, so no thanks,"

"And why not?"

"A gambling acoholic, is that really what a leader should be? Do you want me as your leader?" Izuku shared a glance with Naruto and gave a noncomittal shrug. Naruto gave the same shrug.

"It's not up to us," He responded evenly, "Grampa Third has decided to nominate you as his successor, and since you're the only elect you'll be given the role,"

"The civilian council,"

"Disbanded, no-one will argue," 

"I still can not return,"

"Why?" Izuku hid his groan from all but Naruto, he knew the greenette. He had no patience for superstition, preferring to believe that only chance and coincidence could derail a plan.

"Everyone I loved died,"

"Welcome to life," Izuku spoke bitterly, "I saw many of my friends die before they reached ten, many because they took their own lives, unable to cope, here that is considered a cardinal wrong, at least your loved ones went out with a fight,"

"Still, I can not come to the village," Izuku's folded arms fell to his sides.

"Give me one good reason,"

"I will do more harm than good to the village," The blond snorted.

"You can't do more than Grampa did in his recent years, with what he let Danzo get away with," Izuku looked up and disappeared in a green flicker. Naruto shrugged and continued talking. "Anyways, you know,"

"Does he do that often?"

"No, just an emergency at home, probably nothing to worry about," Izuku reappeared patting his sleeves and smelling slightly of smoke, grumbling to himself.

"Pardon me, Sasuke decided he was going to try and cook again and honestly I don't want him ruining the new kitchen so soon, Sakura called me since she figured you would be busier than me,"

"How considerate, what did he set fire to?"

"The kitchen," Naruto made an 'O' noiselessly. "Anyways what were you just saying?"

"That I can not return to the village, I will simply do more harm than good," Izuku froze and snapped his head up.

"How would you do more harm than good?"

"I...People get hurt when I am," Two very large sighs silenced her.

"You are a med-nin are you not?" izuku began

"Uh?"

"You can heal most every injury and the knowledge you'd bring to the hospital, never mind the skills," Naruto continued, "We could have a med-nin on every team, everyone would know basic healing jutsus,"

"If you and Orochimaru combined your efforts you could revolutionise medicine across the world let alone the village,"

"But,"

"Oh dear god," Izuku rubbed his temples, "Surely you can't be this sttubborn, this thick?! Jiraiya not a goddamn word,"

"Shizune what do you think?"

"I...Um, well....I, think... returning may do Lady Tsunade some good, both physically and mentally,"

"There it is five agaisnt one, right guys?" Shizune nodded slowly while Jiraiya eagerly gave a thumbs up staring at Tsunade giddily.

"I believe it is the right course of action," Orochimaru agreed, "With Danzo on the loose and the Akatsuki to worry about, we could prioritze the Akatsuki while you boys hunt down Danzo," Tsunade lowered her head.

"Very well, I will return to the village and see if it has changed, if I feel it would benefit for me to be Hokage, I will take the mantle,"

"That's as good as we'll get," Naruto put his hands on his hips. "Izuku you take Orochimaru and Jiraiya, I'll take Tsunade and Shizune," They both grabbed hold of their targets and closed their eyes.

"SWEET SAGE OF SIX PATHS!" A voice cried as they reappeared in the Hokage room. Grampa Third sat staring in surprise while some paper floated down around him. To the group's left Asuma Sarutobi and Kureni Yuhi had leapt together while Anko Mitarashi and Kakashi had jumped back together. The yell had come from Anko, who simply had let her guard down for a moment.

"Anko!" Orochimaru exclaimed, "Kami I completely forgot about that," He walked over to the kunoichi and rested a hand on the back of her neck. Kakashi tensed minutely as she winced in pain. "I am sorry for applying that, I was Danzo's puppet long before I did,"

"As I explained moments ago Orochimaru was trapped under one of Danzo's seals, so far the shinobi council is hesitant to trust him, which is the main factor I chose to send him on this mission, aswell as a preventative measure to make sure Izuku did not kill Jiraiya," Anko's eyes began watering as she hugged Orochimaru.

"I knew that wasn't you sensei! I just knew it!" The sannin patted her head gently, unknowing of how to react.

"Tsunade I take it you accepted my decision to announce you as my successor?"

"Not exactly sensei, I decided to se if I could benefit the village if I were to beomce Hokage," Izuku rubbed his face with his hand. "I believe that people would only get,"

"For the love of Kami! You are a med-nin, focus on the damage you can undo, if I focused on the negative of my past I would've never come to get you, never would've trusted Sakura or Ino, or been a supporter for Tayuya to be brought into our household," There was a great silence.

"He was abused by women, a lot," Naruto summarizes, "Deep trust issues of the opposite sex that he's been working on undoing, don't test him."

"Now that the matter is settled, Tsunade how long would you wish to come to your decision?"

"I believed it's already been made, I'll become Hokage,"

"Wonderful, until the appointment you are free to roam the village, I suggest buying a house somewhere close by, else you may ask the Uzumaki boys for assitance in getting to work on time," Tsunade expertly caught the small book Izuku had flung at her again.

"Housing and taking care of myself is no problem, but I do wish to inspect your hospital, I will be heading that up as well, since I am one of the most accomplished med-nin in the world," For the first time since meeting her, Naruto heard pride in her voice.

"Bout damn time," Izuku smriked, "Come on Naruto, we should go home, let the adults do their thing," _Let them think we are ignorant to what they are discussing._ The sentence finished mentally, reminding Naruto that yes, his brother could read minds. They waved before disappearing in synchrony.

Naruto grimaced as he watched the battle play out in front of him. Izuku was busy measuring Katsuki's skills and it was undeniably awesome. The greenette had brought out his Sharingan to use his full abilities and Katsuki was taking all and dishing it back out. It was very clear the boy had fought Sharingan users before. Although it was a simple taijutsu battle they were fighting on the river that ran through the training arena. "Figures we'd find you guys here," Sakura's voice caused his head to turn, showing that the pinkette and Ino were standing with a picnic basket.

"What are you girls doing here?"

"We've been looking for you, Itachi is cooking dinner, Tayuya is touring the village with Sasuke and Shisui is trying to spar with a dummy," Sakura sat down on his left. "So we figured we'd come and find you three before Itachi was forced to collect you and leave the kitchen and Sasuke unattended again," The three chuckled. "Plus we brought snacks,"

"You do know how to convince me," Naruto clutched his hands over his heart as Ino sat on his right.

"So what's happening?" She asked while Sakura opened the picnic basket, handing them both a stick of dango.

"Izuku is just testing Katsuki, to find the baseline of his training, since he trained with Itachi and Shisui for a month and started from a point worse than Izuku we neede to know where he was comparitively," They chewed their sweets for a moment. "So far he seems to have come in in leaps and bounds after Itachi fed him up,"

"He seems better than us already,"

"Don't forget they had literally nothing else to do, even we were busy shopping and doing housework, they didn't for a month straight Katsuki was fighting and working on his taijutsu, ninjutsu, everything, Itachi could get food while Shisui taught chakra control then Itachi would train him to fight and use ninjutsu,"

"For a month straight though, that's hardcore,"

"Yeah and that's why Katsuki is an Uzumaki, he never once gave up or slowed down, never took a single break," Naruto leant back against the tree behind them.

"If he shares history with Izuku then he's got tonnes of energy since his body would have adapted to run as best it could while malnourished, anything beyond his usual intake would've been repairing the body and building it up for at least a few days," Sakura leant into Naruto.

"And his physcological profile means that he would do anything that gained positive reinforcement and encouragement until it killed him," Izuku was launched into the cliff opposite them, where he crouched and jumped back to Katsuki, leaving a bigger crater than when he landed. A wave splashed up and landed just shy of the trio's feet. Ino leant into Naruto as they continued watching the boys spar. It was incredible to see. Izuku blocked a kick with his forearm before slipping his elbow over Katsuki's leg and snapping his arm down to knock the blond off balance. Katsuki would return, using the momentum to spin into an axe kick, which Izuku would push back and leave Katsuki back on both feet. Izuku tilted his head to avoid a jab to his neck and Katsuki simply stepped into the attack, striking out with his elbow to knock Izuku off balance before the greenette dodged the follow up kick aimed for his temple. The boys weren't holding anything back and it showed. Two pebbles skitted across the water, Naruto just grinned wider. "Why did they just throw stones?"

"As a sign they're going to start using ninjutsu, they want a fair fight and just throwing a fireball at someone wouldn't be a fair fight," He watched as Katsuki began throwing water style ninjutsus, taking from the rives below his feet to make them more powerful. Izuku threw a single kunai and put his hands to his fingers before inhaling deeply.

"Stolen bloodline, ice style!" Breathing over his fingertips, a bright blue wisp of air formed just after his hands. Naruto sat up a little straighter, Katsuki jumped backwards, anticipating a fireball instead. The water dragon began slowing down as it became an ice sculpture, the eyes remaining the same bloodred. It turned around and began chasing Katsuki instead, who was forced to obliterate it with a fire ball. As the blond landed his hand crackled with electricty.

"Chidori!" He crossed the water, leaving arcs in his wake. Izuku met the charge headon.

"Rasendori!" Came the responsive cry. Sakura and Ino both sat up, still leaning on Naruto's shoulders.

"That's just a Rasengan though," Sakura gazed at the blue orb.

"Remember what Izuku did at the bridge?" They watched the greenette put his hand forward. The orb glided over Katsuki's hand, Izuku launched himself into a flip, dragging the blue sphere of chakra over the blond's arm, taking the electricity with it. As Katsuki's eyes widened in shock Izuku let the electrified jutsu strike his chest. The greenette landed just behind his opponent and crouched low. As the blow sent the blond stumbling backwards he fell over Izuku and crashed into the water. The jutsu however continued to race onwards before arcing straight into the air, barely completing the mountain before exploding. Izuku smirked before pointing a kunai at Katsuki.

"I believe that means I win,"

"No fair, you hijacked my jutsu," They both got up and began walking over.

"It's all in the chakra control, I just made mine match yours, you could do the same after some time, and a lot of practise," The two sat down opposite the trio. "I take it Itachi is making dinner right now?" Sakura nodded, Izuku's mouth seemed to water. "It's been ages since we had his katsudon,"

"Or his ramen, like the bacon or veggitarian ones," Both boys began getting lost in food daydreams. They shook their heads at the same time. "Alright we should probably go home now then,"

"But we just got here," Sakura whined.

"We need to set the table, and with nine people to feed we need to make sure everyone is accounted for at least five minutes in advance," Izuku got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Sasuke and Tayuya are probably going to be touring the village, so it'll take a while to find them and Shisui will have either locked himself in somewhere or gotten lost," Katsuki and Naruto stood up, the latter helping both girls to their feet. "You guys can find Shisui, I'll get Sasuke and Tayuya, Katsuki, see if Itachi needs help in the kitchen," The six all leapt away on their route home.

Naruto noticed it first. A quick gesture to Izuku and he knew too. There was something not quite right with the air around them. It seemed _damper_ than normal. Katsuki appeared to notice as well when he eyed his brothers. "Naruto, get the girls home, return once all heads are accounted for, make sure Itachi does not come to fight," Naruto nodded. "If he doesn't seemed convinced, just say Akatsuki, he will understand," Izuku and Katsuki came to a stop on their next rooftop, Naruto leading the girls away. They heard two sinister laughs behind them and the beginning of a taunt.

"Naruto, what's going on?"

"I don't know but whoever they are, they are dangerous, I'm getting you two home and making sure the others are safe before I swap out for Katsuki," Grabbing both of their hands he dropped down to the streets and began to blend in with the crowd. It wasn't long before they found Sasuke and Tayuya laughing as they walked. "Sasuke," He grabbed the raven haired boy's attention. "We need to get home, now, two enemy, in the village, Katsuki and Izuku are trying to deal with them,"

"So we're on guard duty?"

"You and Katsuki are, they're most likely going to be after me and you, so long as we split up,"

"They can't win, good thinking," Sasuke nodded as the five continued to make their way to the house. Naruto led everyone up the stairs.

"You three into the attic, Shisui and Itachi will,"

"What will we do?"

"Stay with them, Sasuke and Katsuki are going to look out for any more attackers,"

"I can still fight,"

"Izuku asked me to not let you fight them," Naruto looked at his former sensei, Shisui was letting Sasuke guide him up the ladder to the girls.

"I'm not letting you,"

"Akatsuki," Naruto interrupted, "Izuku told me to tell you that, he said you would understand," Itachi gulped and nodded.

"Very well, I know why he asked this of you, hopefully we can explain later," The blond nodded as he watched the older shinobi climb the ladder and closed the latch behind him. Sasuke had already opened the nearest window and was scaling the wall to the roof.

"Alright, I'll warp to Izuku and send Katsuki here,"

"Understood," Sasuke nodded "And dope?"

"Yeah?"

"Come back alive," Naruto disappeared in a flash of yellow.

His hand rested on Izuku's shoulder as he instinctively jumped with Izuku over the swipe of a large sword. "I take it you're here to tap out for me?" Katsuki took his attention. The blonds leapt towards one another. Naruto took in his soon-to-be opponent. A pale green face with dark blue hair shaped like a fin smirked at him.

"This is the kid we're after?"

"Orange jumpsuit, blond hair, he's the Uzumaki of Konoha," Izuku fell back to the two blonds, a tanto in hand. Naruto realized as he looked at is brother, Izuku was wearing ANBU gear. The typical mask on his left temple instead of over his face.

"Excuse you btu the three of us are Uzumaki," Naruto smirked as he rested a hand on Katsuki's shoulder, the boy disappeared without a sound. "You can explain the gear later, right now let's get these guys gone,"

"Kisame, find the other blond, there's a chance the Uchiha brat is with him," The other man spoke and Naruto felt his eye twitch. The green skinned man smiled.

"With pleasure," He dissolved into water and disappeared. Naruto tensed his fists.

"Oi," Izuku muttered "You remember our blade training?"

"Like I'd forget,"

"Good, hold this," Naruto took the tanto, clutching it tightly, "Let's take formation E," The greenette led the charge against the man, ducking low and running across the man's body. Following his brother, the blond ducked and ran the opposite side. As he lifted the blade to strike, the mysterious ninja lifted a famaliar blade to deflect it. Izuku quickly pivoted on his foot. He let go of the handle and the blade spun over his opponents, his brother grabbed it and scraped it up the opposing blade, generating sparks until their opponent twisted their blade to catch the tanto in a semi-circle cut out near the handle. Izuku leapt back before he was cut in half, the brothers regrouping just out of the swords reach. "You weild Kubikiribocho," The opponent laughed.

"Of course, it was my blade first, that upstart Zabuza was able to take it from me when I defected from Kiri, little wannabe rogue died like a chump, leaving the blade ripe for the taking,"

"We buried the blade with the body grave robber," Izuku growled "Original owner you say? That must make you Biwa Juzo, rogue nin of the Akatsuki, you'd be a great toy for T and I," Juzo laughed.

"You think just cause you killed Zabuza you can kill me? Please pipsqueak, I'll kill you and take blondie before you can say fight me,"

"Fight me," Izuku's eyes narrowed as the tanto was handed back to Naruto, who took it readily. Izuku pulled out a small scroll and ran it across the palm of his hand, a second tanto puffed into existence. "Formation C," The two raced forwards. Naruto took the lead, throwing several shuriken and pulling out a kunai. Juzo stepped backwards and blocked the stars before deflecting the strike from the tanto. He rolled to the side as Izuku rolled over the blade and kicked out. The cloaked man ducked backwards, the move too far in his guard to deflect. Naruto was already on his heel, diving in for another attack, his slash being deflected upwards. Both boys kept it up, attacking with each movement. Juzo was on the backfoot getting pushed by the force, unable to dish out an attack of his own. Naruto crouched and leapt into the air.

"Finishing combo J," His tanto was thrown to Izuku, who caught it in a reverse grip and immediately launched into a combination attack. Naruto landed behind him after pulling out a second kunai. Izuku planted his foot and rotated out of the way, his attack knocking Kubikiribocho out of the way. Naruto's kunai sliced Juzo's chest in a cross before the blond was passed the rogue ninja. Izuku's rotation completed as both tanto buried into Juzo's chest.

"Perish," Blood trickled from Juzo's mouth as he stared down in shock. There was a sickening sound as the blades were drawn from the body. Izuku spun them in a circle to hold both in a straight grip before slashing the air creating two crossing arcs of blood. The blond stared at his brother as one tanto turned to smoke while the other was slid into its holster on his back.

"You have some explaining to do,"

"Later, go and back up Sasuke and Katsuki, I have to seal the body and deliver Kubikiribocho to the Hokage office," Izuku knelt to check for a pulse as Naruto disappeared in a shimmer.

"Guys!" A kunai was thrown into the needle like blade that would've split Katsuki in half. It crashed into the concrete next to the boy, who kicked out at the fish like man, sending both blade and wielder backwards. Sasuke had a bleeding wound on his arm while Katsuki was panting, a bloody wound visible through a gash on his trousers. Naruto growled at the man named Kisame. "Juzo is dead, Izuku killed him, don't think we won't kill you,"

"I don't doubt you would if you could,"

"Funny, Juzo thought the same until he was turned into Juzo-shish kebab," The man frowned, Naruto flicked his head towards Sasuke. "Did you know Izuku was ANBU?" A shake of his head. "Great, can you guys still fight?"

"Yeah," Katsuki tried standing from his positon, only to fall onto one knee. "Maybe not,"

"I can," Sasuke grunted "But I've already overused Chidori trying to get this guy, he just turns to water before I get him," Holding up his left hand revealed that it was lightly burned from the electricity generated by Chidori. Naruto glared back at Kisame.

"If you run know you can keep Samehada as well as your life, continue fighting and you will lose both," Izuku appeared behind Naruto and Sasuke, still in his ANBU outfit, this time with the mask over his face. "But I should warn you, you have thirty seconds to decide and after fifteen a squad of ANBU will begin hunting you down and those guys don't like it when people try and hide from them,"

"The mission failed after Juzo lost Kubikiribocho anyway," The man gave a sharp toothed grin, "Next time we meet you'll have that cocky attitude knocked out of you, along with your head from your shoulders,"

"I'd like to see you try," Izuku challenged, Kisame just frowned.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you brat," The man turned to water and splashed down to the ground. Izuku sighed and turned around before pulling off his mask.

"BRAT!" Tsunade's voice broke their momentary silence, "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOUT YOU FOUR FIGHTING ENEMY SHINOBI?!"

"Two members of the Akatsuki infiltrated the village aiming to come after Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke to take them for unknown reasons, one is dead Biwa Juzo, his sealed body and his blade Kubikiribocho are in your office I neutralized him working with Naruto, together Sasuke and Uzumaki Katsuki were able to defend the buildings from Hoshigaki Kisame, he made a retreat upon hearing that his teammate was dead," Izuku spoke flatly. "Lady Hokage if you would allow me to,"

"You aren't pursuing him, there's already a squad of ANBU doing that since you informed them before me,"

"Time was of the essence Lady Hokage, informing you while you were at the hospital would have be detreimental to the repulsion of the invaders, as it stands Katsuki and Sasuke are both hurt badly and require medical aid, Naruto appears to be fine however I would like to take him to be checked nonetheless,"

"And you Green?"

"Unharmed Lady Hokge,"

"Very well, I'll give you a pass this time Green, but next time you come to inform me first,"

"Hai Lady Hokage," Izuku lifted his hand into a seal and in a puff of smoke he was back in his regular clothing. The three boys looked at him incredulously. "Man, that sure was something huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter chapter but I promise I'm not trying to skimp on you guys. I just wanted to get another one out to make up for the ghosting I've been doing (pun not intended) I'm thinking it's another two before I each the end of part 1 of Naruto and was wondering, should I make a second story for the stuff that happens in Shippuden or should I keep it all together in this one? Anyways thanks for your continued support and I hope you keep enjoying the shit I scribble.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	14. Five more minutes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsunade makes a decision as Hokage,  
> An interruption of importanec arrives.  
> Izuku steps into a conflict.  
> And Naruto?  
> He just wants to turn that damn alarm off.

"Alright so I suppose you guys want an explanation," Izuku rubbed the back of his head.

"Um, yeah," Sasuke's sarcasm makes the greenette wince.

"Since when was my adopted brother ANBU?"

"Since about a few days ago, Sarutobi had pulled me aside before we left for Tsunade, said that in order to properly lead the mission I would need to be ANBU since it was such a classified and high ranked mission, not only that but after I held off the two Hokage until you showed up and was then able to perform such a powerful genjutsu, he acknowledged my skills fit for ANBU as well as the intelligence I displayed, it was a last minute promotion in order to make sure we had the manpower here to truly recover from the distraction,"

"Distraction?"

"Did you really not feel it Naruto? All the ROOT agents in the casino?"

"Uh, no?" Izuku sighed.

"The intent wasn't aimed at you so I guess it would be harder for you to pick up on, well it doesn't matter, I need to get Katsuki and Sasuke to the hospital,"

"No need, I want team seven in my office in three minutes, Sasuke and Katsuki can come with me to recieve aid from ANBU," Tsunade answered, before another word was spoken. "Izuku can you?"

"Hai," The greenette just walked over to Katsuki and Sasuke, placing a hand on either of them, letting them vanish in moments. "They are awaiting you in the office now," The Hokage nodded before leaping away. "Naruto, we should probably let them out of the attic now," Together they made their way back to the house.

As the attic door was lifted a blonde and pink blur was first down it, both crashing into Naruto at the bottom of the ladder. Sakura and Ino clutched onto him tightly. "We were so worried," Sakura was shaking softly. Ino sniffed.

"We," *Sniff* "We thought you'd," *Sniff* "You'd been taken," 

"You could've mentioned there was chakra blocking material in the insulation," Itachi's voice scolded Izuku.

"There's chakra blocking material in the insulation," The greenette's voice was deadpan.

_Whack_

"Smartass," Shisui grumbled. Naruto held the girls gently.

"Hey, hey it's okay, like I'd let some punkass rogues get close to me," He rubbed both of their backs softly. "It's okay, I'm here, I'm alive, relatively unhurt, only nicked me," Both girls squeezed him, burying their heads into his shoulders and chest. "I'm alright, it's okay,"

"Where's Sasuke?" Tayuya's voiced echoed from the loft.

"With Tsunade, which reminds me, Sakura, Naruto, let's go,"

"W-what?" Sakura let the arm around her loosen.

"Tsuande wants team seven in her office in a minute," Ino quickly backed away and nodded, wiping her tears away.

"You'd better get back before I'm done with dinner," Itachi threatened, "Yamanaka would you please lay the table?"

"Of course Uchiha," Ino nodded as they began heading towards the stairs, "Tayuya, could you guide Shisui downstairs please?"

"Oh so he gets Uchiha but I get Shisui,"

"Ignore him, he's a sensitive little baby," Izuku teased before he walked over to Naruto and Sakura, the latter still clinging to the former. "Let's go see Tsunade," The office contained two ANBU attending to the wounded boys sat in chairs. Naruto moved over to Sasuke while Izuku remained in the middle of the room. The ANBU stood up and left silently. Seizing his chance Naruto summoned a Shadow Clone, pushing the chairs together. Izuku now stood behind both boys, a hand on each of their shoulders while Naruto and Sakura sat on the floor in front of the chairs.

"Alright, now all five of you are here, a few things that are going to happen going forwards, firstly, Uzumaki Katsuki, you are now the fifth member of team seven, while unorthodox, you are too old for the academy and quite frankly, appear to be close to Izuku's level of taijutsu and chakra control, you are also the only other Primal chakra user so keeping you together makes sense," Naruto pumped his fist, "However I expect you to not make your confrontations as, conspicuous as your training session earlier,"

"Yeah yeah Hokage," Izuku waved a hand, "Second?"

"Brat," She groaned, "Secondly team seven is going to be ANBU squad seven," 

"Huh?"/"What?"/"Really?" 

"The first three boys displayed exemplary skills as shinobi, Katsuki has shown an incredibly fast growth and Sakura has been training under your guidance for several weeks now, I'd be more concerned if she hand't improved with how hellish your regimes are," Sakura quickly jumped at Naruto, sending them both crashing to the ground.

"This is amazing, we're going to be ANBU!"

"I told you, team seven isn't going anywhere,"

"Squad seven from now on," Izuku nodded, "When can we get the tattoos?" Everyone paled

"T-tattoos?" Katsuki tensed "That means needles doesn't it? Oh-kay,"

"Afraid of needles?" Sasuke looked at the newest team mate.

"Yeah," He admitted "I, they used to stick a lot of needles in me to keep me sleepy, it prevent me from disappearing like Izuku did,"

"They drugged you?" Izuku growled, everyone began to feel a weight on their shoulders.

"Izuku, don't," Naruto shook his head, "Not worth it," His brother took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Right," Everyone sat up a bit straighter and Izuku stretched out one arm, "Continue,"

"There's one last thing we must discuss," Tsunade leant on her desk, the mood much heavier than before. "After two rogue shinobi entered the village aiming to take Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, we must,"

"Lady Hokage!" A voice shouted as someone burst into the room. "We detected foreign chakra in the village," Neji Hyuuga stood looking alarmed at the door. "We fear the,"

"The enemy shinobi have been dealt with, one was neutralized, you were too slow Hyuuga,"

"We were fortifying the compound Lady Hokage,"

"Your priority should be to inform me,"

"Lord Third gave us permission to focus on our defences after the Kumo,"

"The Kumo forces were dealt with by yours truly before you realized Hinata was missing," The greenette turned to face the brunette.

"T-that was you four?"

"No it was myself and Sasuke," Izuku gestured to the chair containing Sasuke.

"Regardless I am not Lord Third, therefore you can't assume I will allow the same things he did, from now on I want to know the moment you detect a foreign ninja that should not be here, then you can forify your 'defences'," Neji bowed "And next time don't forget your hitai-ate when coming to see me,"

"Hai Lady Hokage,"

"Hey Neji, what's that on your forehead?" Izuku had closed the gap before a word could be uttered, pulling the hair aside.

* * *

Mifune sighed as he knelt on the cushion by the great window overlooking the snow laden Land of Iron, polishing his sword slowly he enjoyed the relative silence his room held for him.

"HIASHI!!!"

The random voice startled the wisened samurai so much he dropped his sword against the floor, clattering loudly. Just as quickly as it had appeared the voice was gone. Mifune looked around his room quickly before cleaning his ear with a finger. Silence again. Sighing again Mifune decided to worry about it later, he wasn't going senile just yet.

* * *

Naruto groaned as Izuku disappeared with Neji in tow. The blood curling scream had caused everyone else to freeze. Quickly shaking off the fear he grabbed Tsunade and the two moved to the Hyuuga compound Taking in the area several things stood out to Naruto. One the great double doors had both been blown clean off their hinges, two Neji was stood staring numbly at the sight before him, which lead to three, Izuku was curently crouching on the Hyuuga head's chest, shaking him by his shirt. "A CAGED BIRD SEAL, ARE YOU SERIOUS? I DIDN'T PREVENT YOUR DAUGHTER FROM BEING A BROODMARE JUST FOR YOU TO DO IT TO YOUR OWN FAMILY!!"

"I do what is necassary to protect the byakugan," Izuku stepped away from the elder and grinned savagely.

"Oh, is that so?" Naruto shook and walked over to Neji.

"Hey, whats a Caged Bird seal?"

"It binds me to a life of servitude by the main house, along with sealing my Byakugan when I am killed so it is not taken and used by enemies," Naruto turned to Tsunade.

"This isn't legal right?"

"It is clan affairs, which a Kage should not get involved with," She put a hand on her hip.

"Lucky for me, I ain't Hokage," Izuku lowered his head at Hiashi, "Get them in here, now!" Hiashi scrambled to leave the room before he returned with several more elders, many appearing older than himself.

"What is is Hokage?" Izuku snapped his fingers.

"That's Lady Hokage to you and she's here as a witness, I am the one you should be paying,"

"What is a boy going to,"

**Thunk**

A kunai sat dangerously close to the head of the elder, "Interrupt me again and I will really start losing my patience,"

"I'd listen to him if I were you," Naruto warned as he folded his arms, "He isn't pleased with you,"

"As if we care about the approval of a child," Izuku chuckled maniacally, putting off most of the elders.

"The Caged Bird Seal, why?"

"It is to protect both the Byakugan and the Main House," An elder growled to him, "I do not see the need to explain to you boy,"

"So it's soley applied to members of the Branch House?"

"If it is not they would rebel against our order,"

"Because your order is shit,"

"The Caged Bird Seal protects,"

"So why do you not have it?" Izuku glared at the room.

"Because we don't- Gah-AHHHHHH!" The elder screamed as Izuku flickered back to the centre of the room. The elder in question screamed as they clutched their face, blood seeping between their fingers. 

"You don't need it did you say?" Izuku held up a bloody eye in his hand, "Because that sounds like a cheap out to me, it sounds like you just want slaves,"

"Impudent whelp,"

"Keep talking, see what happens to your whatever member's eye,"

"How dare a civilian threaten us!"

"Uzumaki Izuku of the Uzumaki clan," An elder laughed egotistically,

"There is no,"

"Uzushigakure, the villlage in the whirlpools was literally a village of Uzumaki's, just because there's three of us, doesn't mean you are going to win," Izuku held the eye in his closed fist. "Now I will ask again, why do you not have the Caged Bird Seal you force upon the Branch Houses?"

"Because,"

"Answer carefully or you may not get the eye back," None of the elders saw Izuku moved his hand behind his back and pull out a scroll. At the same time he pulled out a small white rubber ball, sealing away the eye and closing his hand around the rubber ball.

"Quick thinking," Tsunade whispered as the elders kept looking between each other, sweating profusely and pulling at their robes.

"You don't have any reason do you?"

"No," Hiashi shamefully admitted, "No we, _I_ do not, the elders proposed the seal to prevent the Branch House from rebelling against the way they are treated," Naruto felt his jaw slacken.

"So, let me get this straight," He began walking to his brother, "You recognise you're treating people badly and your solution to the problem is to force them to deal with it?" He grabbed onto Izuku's sleeve, the greenette being ready to jump every elder present. "How about you remove the seal of all Branch House members and I won't let him begin a collection of Byakugan?"

"We can't remove the,"

"Then you will not get the eye back, may it be a reminder of how your hubris will end you," Izuku turned around swiftly walking over to Neji. "Here," A small booklet was put in the young Hyuuga's hands, "Give every branch member one of these pages, do not tear the formula, tell them if the elders ever call them in to put chakra into the page,"

"I,"

"Neji, please, if you care about family at all, give them a page, regardless of who it is,"

"And they simply push chakra into the page?"

"Yes, it will alert me to the situation as well as allowing me to be by their side instantly,"

"Why?"

"Because that was a load of horseshit," Tsunade interrupts, "They can very easily remove the seal, it's a seal, anyone with any knowledge of fuinjutsu knows all seals can be undone,"

"They will take an eye from a Branch member and then reapply the seal," Izuku shook his head, "They have far too much pride and arrogance to listen to everything I say, they will forget this blemish since they are the porud Hyuuga, strongest of all clans, except they aren't," Neji scoffed, "They are prideful, arrogant ninja that have outlived others with their cowardice and use of others, tell me how many elders are from Branch families?" The brunette looked at the floor.

"None," He mumbled, "They all died in combat,"

"Protecting the Main house members, right?" A nod, "Because they were incompetent shinobi only allowed onto the field because of their dojutsu, have you fought Hinata?"

"Many times, I have claimed victory every time,"

"Because she does not train in the way you do, she is not trained to fight, she is trained to flee, to use her dojutsu and nothing else." Izuku shook his head.

"Next time you fight her, remember, they haven't taught her anything, it's up to you to make sure she can, Gaara already did what he could before he had to go home so you do have something to work with," Naruto nodded gently, "And whatever you hold against her about the kidnapping, remember it was not her fault but the Kumo nin, that caused whatever happened,"

"I will endeavor to remember that, thank you, both of you," Izuku clasped his shoulder.

"No worries man, it's what a hero does,"

"And what could would I be as Hokage if I can't help anyone?" Naruto chuckled, "Now we should probably be going now,"

"Yeah, Itachi will probably be serving up dinner now, oh and Neji, don't be afraid to drop by with or without Hinata, if you could also pass along the message to her and Tenten, Lee too but,"

"I understand," Neji chuckled, "I owe you both greatly, but I suppose I have taken enough of your time, enjoy your evenings, I shall go and hand out some papers," He waved the book, "Lady Hokage," Tsunade nodded to him as the Hyuuga began walking away.

"Tsunade, you and Orochimaru are also welcome anytime,"

"And what of Jiraiya?" Izuku's face fell.

"If he can change his behaviour, maybe even attempt to make up for what he did, we shall consider it," Naruto compromised, "Otherwise we will not welcome the pervert sage in our home," Tsunade nodded in understanding before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. "Right, homebound then?"

Warmth. That was the first thing he felt when he woke up. It was comforting and yet, odd. Naruto never shared a bed before, so he'd either cast a Shadow Clone in his sleep or someone had creeped into his bed. Or _Someones_ as both arms felt pinned either side of him, both wrapped around somethings that were resting on his shoulders gently. Sasuke and Izuku definitely wouldn't do that, Tayuya was absolutely interested in Sasuke so she was a no-go, Itachi and Shisui were in the other room, Katsuki wouldn't have the balls to try prank him like this and Ino and Sakura were way more interested in Sasuke than him so they'd never do this, right?

Right?

Keeping his eyes closed he knew plausible deniability was his best bet. If he acted like he was still asleep when the others woke up, they'd act like nothing had happened. The body on his left shuffled, snuggling into him, head lifting to rest in the crook of his neck. Great now he had someone's breath tickling him while he tried to remain dead still. It was harder than he wanted to admit. Trying to focus on his breathing didn't help much either. Hoping one of them woke up soon he lifted his chin slightly. Unfortunately the person on his right seemed to take it as an invitation, snuggling into him the same way the person on the left had. Internally groaning he gave up on waiting and simply relaxed again, hopefully he could actually fall asleep before the two woke up and then he'd be golden. Just relax, and.

**Brriiinng**

Gritting his teeth Naruto kept his eyes closed, the alarm would surely wake whoever was in his arms up, it had to.

**Brriiinng**

'No, don't do this to me' He cried still making sure his eyes didn't open. It wasn't fair he didn't need this, this was just some higher power being cruel. His arms couldn't even move for him to make a Shadow Clone. 

**Brriiing**

It was torture, there was no other way to describe it. It was worse than torture. The alarm was going mad at him but the two weights kept slumbering. Oh sure, he could lift his arms, it'd be relatively easy, the hard part was explaining to whoever they were, why they were in his arms and why he was awake first. No, he'd rather avoid the double edged sword if he could.

**Brriiing**

Even if it meant he'd be driven insane by that damned alarm clock. The person on his left shifted slightly grumbling. "Stupid alarm," He knew that voice, and it sent him into a bigger craze loop as the alarm was smacked off. What was Ino doing sleeping on his chest?! Had she realized he was her pillow? She rolled back over and her arms immediately wrapped around his torso, her fact buried into him. "Comfy," Heat made his cheeks turn bright red, that's what it was, heat, not embarrasment from being called comfy. Not at all. And she'd just turned the alarm off, meaning she'd go back to sleep and whoever was on his right would stay asleep too. 'Kami fucking damn it' He groaned, his one chance at getting out of this safely had just been ripped from him. Kurama was chuckling in the back of his mind, being of little to no help. At least now he could,

**Brriiing**

'Oh, come the actual _fuck_ on!!' He whined mentally. Resisting the urge to thrash he just kept his eyes closed and attempted to keep his breathing level and quiet. "Mn, Sakura, get your alarm," Ino complained. Naruto froze, Sakura was the person on his right, that wasn't fair, the whole situation wasn't fair. She rolled over still in his arm and hit the alarm clock on the other side. "Tha-aank you," Ino yawned as she rested her head on Naruto's chest.

"It's, fine," Sakura slowly rolled back over and he could feel them stare at each other, their heads tickling his chest as they turned to look up at him. He still kept his eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. Both girls looked down again and Naruto rolled his head. Ino shrugged against his body.

"I've woken up in worse ways," She mumbled, squeezing his chest. Sakura seemed to hum in agreement. Allowing his head to roll sideways, Naruto faked trying to roll over in his sleep, when the girls gave quiets 'eeps' he rolled his head back and cracked open an eye.

"And how did you two end up sleeping on me exactly?"

"Uh, no idea but," Ino flushed bright red, "Your chest is comfortable so don't move,"

"Sakura?"

"We were waiting for Izuku when he went off to deal with the Hyuuga clan, we ended up in a pile out of boredom and I guess we fell asleep,"

"Eh, I've woken up to worse," He teased, both girls blushing heavily before burying their faces into his chest, only for them to realize and roll to face the ceiling. "Anyone have anything to do today? Cause I don't,"

"We're training in the afternoon remember?" Ino couldn't look at him at all.

"Oh yeah, but that's later," Naruto kicked up the blanket and yawned.

"So?" Sakura almost turned to look at him but the pink in her cheeks caused her to flick away again. He simply adjusted his arms around the girls and held onto them.

"That means we can sleep in," He whispered to both as they looked ready to pass out. They moth mumbled agreements, a hand each resting on his chest. With a relaxing sigh Naruto looked at the insides on his eyelids again. He could get used to this.


	15. Sayonnara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You can't stay here,"
> 
> "I'm going with him,"
> 
> Squad 7 here the final part of Tsunade's decision,  
> It is not taken well in the beginning.  
> "You are staying home or so help me,"

"If you three are done!" Izuku's voice made the pile jump slightly, "Sakura, Naruto, Tsunade wants us in her office in five minutes, Itachi's got breakfast, Sasuke using the downstairs bathroom, and if you aren't ready soon I'm leaving without you! Ino, Shisui has your chakra exercises ready for you before you spar with Tayuya, Katsuki is already on his way there!" They all scrambled from the bed.

"We saw her yesterday," Naruto threw his hands up, "Could she not have said about it yesterday?" He quickly left the room and grabbed his clothes, "I'll be two minutes!" He dived into the bathroom, having a very quick, very cold shower. Showering so quickly his hair was still wet as he walked (Read: Jumped) down the stairs swinging round the bannister. Itachi handed him a plate of still steaming food as Izuku sat down opposite him. The brothers sat in silence for a second.

"I don't know what she wants to talk about but I have a suspicion,"

"What's that?" Naruto spoke between mouthfuls, watching as Izuku slowly wiped spittle and scrambled egg off his face.

"Three Sannin, one of which is the Hokage, the other two were elects but never chosen, my bet is you're going to have to train under all three of them to make sure the Akatsuki don't get hold of you as a jinchuuriki, which reminds me, you put your formula on Gaara right? Ah" Izuku raised a finger as the blond went to talk, "Just nod or shake your head," Naruto nodded, "It's inserted into the seal isn't it?" Another nod, "Great, now like I was saying, you'll probably be taught by all three of them to defend yourself, Tsunade will be chakra control, Orochimaru will be taijutsu and some ninjutsu while Jiraiya should be mainly ninjutsu and maybe summoning," A figure sat next to Naruto, "Morning Sakura,"

"Heya Izuku, did you deal with the Hyuugas?"

"I have a Shadow Clone overseeing the removal of the seal on all Branch members, as well as one getting taught techniques by Neji," A small smirk, "Anyway, Sasuke should be done in the bathroom in a minute and then you two need to brush your teeth and we can warp over to the offic hopefully making it before Katsuki like I promised Tsunade," Both nodded and ate quickly, before pushing their plates at Izuku.

"Thank you for the meal!" They both called to Itachi, rushing to a different bathroom each. Sasuke opened the door with a towel around his shoulders, leaving enough room for Naruto to squeeze past.

"Be quick dope, Katsuki left five minutes ago," Sasuke grinned as the blond grabbed his toothbrush. Two minutes doesn't seem much when he's running but staring at his reflection with a mouthfull of toothpaste stretches time to no end. After mentally counting and trying to ignore Kurama's random number inputs Naruto dashed back out of the room. 

"Watch out!" Sakura called as Naruto turned, the pinkette had begun jumping down the stairs as he'd left the room. Izuku appeared next to Naruto with Sasuke in tow. Catching up immediately, the blond put a hand on his brother's shoulder while reaching out for Sakura, fingertips barely brushing against her as the group vanished in a flicker of green light.

Tsunade should've expected an explosive entrance and cursed herself that she didn't. The priceless look of shock on Shizune's face as the four appeared, only for Izuku to drag Sasuke backwards, allowing a floating (What?) Sakura to collide with Naruto, sending both crashing to the floor. Suddenly the pinkette was sat on the blond's chest, faces inches apart. "Hi," Naruto mumbled awkwardly.

"Hey," Sakura's face went pinker than her hair.

"Oh come on!" Katsuki's voice drew their attention and they all saw the winded blond, panting with his hands on his knees at the doorway. "I went as fast as I could,"

"And you're only five minutes behind teleportation," Izuku chirped as he and Sasuke sat down in the seats. Katsuki balked at him.

"You're teaching me that," Izuku just nodded, "You wished to see us Lady Hokage?" He stood behind both chairs while Sakur and Naruto sat on the floor again.

"Yes, I have some, problematic news, it is a decision I have deliberated for a while now, you five are the newest ANBU the village has, not only that but you have some of the greatest teamwork I have seen in a long time, which makes this decision even harder, but Squad Seven, your first official mission is going to split you up," Naruto opened his mouth as a hand was placed on his shoulder. Izuku had a stone face and joined.

"Go on,"

"Naruto, it is too dangerous for you to be in the village at the moment, so you are to go with Jiraiya under the guise of training, he will teach you certain things but you will be working with him to gather intel from around the five nations, Sakura, you are to stay here, I will be teaching you what I know, Izuku has told me about your dedication to being a med-nin and how you are already working on your byakugo, Katsuki and Izuku, you are to do what you can to gain information for us on the Akatsuki, which rogue nin are part of it, along with analysis of their ninjutsus, strengths weakness, which of our ninja have the best chance of beating them, all of it, everything you can, Sasuke you have a choice of going with Orochimaru or staying your family to develop your abilities, please make your choice soon," The raven haired teen nodded.

"Understood,"

"Apologies Lady Hokage but Jiraiya and Naruto? I urge you to please reconsider," Izuku raised his hand, "There's no,"

"Izuku, I understand your concern and Jiraiya has promised to not behave as he has for the duration of his trip with Naruto, he knows the consequences of otherwise," Tsunade shook her head, "The cover stories will go as follows, Izuku and Katsuki are taking a journey to try and figure out the origins or explanations of their primal chakra, if you can do that alongside your mission, even better, as I stated Naruto will go with Jiraiya under the guise of training, Sasuke will go under the pretense of avenging his clan if he chooses to, the rest of the shinobi world does not know of the developments of Danzo's transgressions or Itachi's suffering, but they will once Danzo is brought to trial, Sakura will be training under me in the hopes of uniting her team once again, you all follow?" Five nods, "Wonderful you have a week to pack and prepare, that goes for you too Sasuke, make your choice quickly,"

"I will go with him," Sasuke nodded, "Orochimaru is a sannin, one of the examples of modling a skill to work in a team, I have much to learn from him,"

"Very well," Tsunade returned, "I shall inform Orochimaru as soon as I can," The five ninja stood before her, "This mission will take several years, as such I expect a report after the first three months and then every six afterwards, it does not have to be in person, since Sasuke being seen near the Leaf would be problematic,"

"Will any of us be labelled missing-nin?"

"No, any other questions?" Silence, "Alright, dismissed"

"I don't like this," Izuku folded his clothes carefully before sealing them away. "I don't like it at all,"

"Nor do I," Naruto shook his head as he packed as well, "So much time away from here, all the work we,"

"No, that's not the problem," Katsuki interrupted as he also packed. "From reports I read, You guys have effectively strong armed Lord Third into doing finally facing his mistakes, now Lady Fifth is picking up the slack, she won't do what he did, Izuku isn't happy leaving you with Pervy Sage for that long,"

"I trust Tsunade, but I don't trust Jiraiya, even if she does, he will have to try harder to gain mine,"

"And I might not know who he is, but from what you've told me, he doesn't seem like the responsible type, more like a senile old man," The three chuckled. Naruto sighed.

"Look I appreciate that you don't trust him, I don't either, but you can't come with me," Izuku froze for a second. "Besides this could be the only chance we give him,"

"Oi you three," Itachi entered the room, "You aren't really thinking about this are you?"

"About what?" Izuku asked innocently,

"If you and Katsuki are going to find information I am too,"

"You can't rejoin the Akatsuki, mainly because you can't leave,"

"They don't know I've left, they think I've gone to repay a favor,"

"You aren't joining them again," Naruto shook his head, "Not after we met Kisame, they'd bury you if they ever see you again, look at how much they hunt Orochimaru,"

"I can still go back to,"

"You are staying home or so help me I will make you," Izuku narrowed his gaze. "Challenge me on this Itachi,"

"Izuku you wouldn't,"

"I can and I will," A screeching filled the room. Naruto put his clothes down and turned to his brother.

"You are not using Kotoamatsukami on him," Arms folded as the blond stare at his greenette brother, who's eyes had bled red, "You aren't doing it,"

"I will, don't,"

"If you were going to do it, you wou;d've done it already," Katsuki flipped through the book of seals in his hand. The three all turned to look at him, "Izuku remember we were six, Izumi was about to put us in the attic of the Bakugo house, you said you'd make her pay if she did,"

"While we were meant to be locked in I used substitution to leave a box in my place before I launched a rock through Katsumi's window and then substituted back into the attic, Katsumi didn't talk to her for a week," Izuku relaxed, "You've made your point, I'm not one to hesitate," Itachi let out a sigh in relief, opening his mouth to talk, "But you still are not joining the Akatsuki again, the mission was given by a traitor to continue it would be to follow a traitor,"

"Izuku,"

"Itachi, I will not let you join the Akatsuki," The Uchiha raised his hands in surrender,

"Alright, alright, I'll stay here and look after Tayuya and Sakura, Shisui too but he,"

"KAMI FUCKING DAMN IT!!" The latters' voice tore through the house, informing the street he'd missed the cup and burnt his wrist again. Three heavy sighs.

"He does that a lot doesn't he?" Katsuki resumed sealing clothes away into the booklet he'd carry with him. Naruto could only shrug and Itachi left to deal with it.

"You know if I find out you've gone after Danzo alone, either of you, I will personally hunt you down and smack you before I drag you back here by your feet," Naruto warned at the table, everyone was gathered to eat some katsudon.

"Same goes for me, except I'll have a chance of doing it," Izuku smirked, "Because Katsuki will be coming with me,"

"I don't need to try to knock sense into you dopes," Sasuke shook his head, "This will be good for us,"

"If you die I won't forgive any of you ever," Sakura's hand shook as she gazed down at her food, "So you better come back in time alright?"

"Uh, wait, where are you four going?" Ino asked, Tayuya and Shisui matching her look of confusion.

"We've been assigned some training," Izuku started making up the cover story, "Naruto is going with his dad's mentor, Sasuke will be going with Orochimaru, just to make sure neither are targeted in the village anymore, I'll be going with Katsuki to try and figure out where our primal chakra stems from, Sakura is staying here to train with Tsunade,"

"You're leaving?!" Blonde rounded on blonde, "How could you not tell me?"

"We don't make tracks for a week, there's no need to worry Ino," Sasuke finished a mouthful, "He was probably going to tell you tomorrow once we organized everything, right?"

"Yeah,"

"But were any of you going to tell me?" Tayuya mumbled quietly, "Orochimaru said he had to go and shut down his labs, making sure Danzo couldn't get anything, kabuto could only stall for so long, he didn't say you'd be accompanying him,"

"I'm only going because it gives me a chance to grow outside of the village, I won't be gone forever,"

"Just three to four years," Izuku snaked on Sasuke so calmly Naruto had to check it wasn't Orochimaru in disguise.

"Grass," The side eye did nothing to unnerve Izuku.

"Make peace with your demons before you meet them," He blew on his food. Naruto and Sasuke both looked at him before being smacked around the back of the head.

"Three or four years?!" Both Ino and Tayuya exclaimed, "Why?"

"Because training is going to take a long time, Sasuke might not be as long as Naruto but there are reasons for both," He shook his head "They'll both be fine,"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I will have a Shadow Clone with both groups, as well as one left here to learn everything Konoha has to offer, I'll be leaving one everywhere we go, disguised or not, so I can learn everything this world has to offer,"

"Sharpen a blade too far and it shall shatter," Itachi recited,

"Then take the shards and reforge a better blade, bad maintenance breaks a weapon, meditation and healthy habits will accompany myself and Katsuki no matter where we go,"

"I'll accept that," He grumbled to the greenette, who kept passive face, eating his food. Naruto stifled a chuckle and continued eating.

"Actually if we get ready we could,

"No, we aren't leaving early," Naruto eaved his chopsticks in the air, Izuku just blew hot air from his nose. "I want to make sure we have everything, double check we have enough gear, maybe double check with Tenten I've got the right equipment for maintenance,"

"Fine, we'll leave in a week, enough time for you to actually get this Wind Shuriken your trying to make,"

"Oh so we're going there?" He shot back quickly, soon enough the table descended into the normal upbeat conversations.

Ino sat on his bed as he continued to seal things away. "Do you have to go?"

"Unfortunately, this is something I can't turn down," Naruto sighed as he sealed away another kunai, why he couldn't do them in a bunch was beyond him but Izuku had made the point that needing one and getting five could be problematic in battles so the blond had conceded.

"But you promise you'll come back,"

"Ino," Putting the book down he faced the blonde.

"You promise?" She insisted firmly,

"I thought you'd want to stop Sasuke more than me," Her hand covered his book as he turned back to it.

"Sasuke didn't help me, didn't train me or make me feel my efforts weren't subpar, you've been a rock for me ever since the Chunnin exams, and now you've got to up and leave in a week? That's not fair," A tremble in her voice gave him a mental slap,

"I promise Ino, I'll be back before you know it, you won't even have time to miss me I'll be that fast, promise," Gently he encircled her in his arms, "At least Sakura is here,"

"BUT YOU'RE NOT!" She yelled, "You won't be here! You promised to always have my back, how are you going to do that when you're not even here?!" Naruto began understanding slowly.

"Ino, do you trust me?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do!"

"So if I were to say I had a technique marker for a jutsu that could get me back to you instantly, you'd take it?" A nod into his chest, "And if I said it had to be on you?"

"O...on me?"

"On a piece of clothing you'd wear everyday, or a piece of skin,"

"I, well," Naruto stepped back, talking slowly.

"Or I could mark a kunai for you to carry with you all the time?" After wiping her eyes Ino seemed to give the idea some thought. He waited with baited breath until Ino gently pulled out a book and tapped a seal. A flower poofed into existence on the page.

"Can you mark this?" She handed him the flower, it whad delicate bright white petals that turned sky blue towards the stem. Holding the dark green stem in his hand Naruto quickly applied his marker and handed it back to her. "And now I can do this," Gently she put the flower into her hair, "So you can still reach me,"

"Push some of your chakra into the flower and I'll know to come get you wherever you are, wherever I am,"

"I'll hold you to that," They chuckled together. "So do Sasuke and Sakura have one?"

"Yeah, since they're teammates I didn't give them a choice, It's on Sasuke right and Sakura's left, Izuku's got is on his right too and Katsuki has it on his back, Kakashi has it on the back of his mask while Itachi and Shisui both have a kunai, while Tayuya has it on her flute,"

"So I was the last one?"

"I wasn't sure if you'd want it, you haven't known me as long as my team, Izuku, Katsuki, Tayuya, Itachi and Shisui are family, so I kinda thought you'd say no if I'm honest," Ino suddenly hugged him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about how I acted in the academy, it was just so easy to follow the curve, even my old man told me off for it sometimes, but,"

"Hey, don't worry about it, things happen in life that we can't always control, but it's up to you what you do after it, you've been better, you got better, you're a hell of a lot more patient and calm now, say that for free,"

"Alright just cause I'm upset you're leaving does not mean I won't backhand you something chronic,"

"Is he upsetting you?" Sakura joined the conversation as they looked over to see the pinkette in the doorway, "Cause if he is I'll,"

"No I applied my marker to the flower in her hair, she was just apologizing for the academy days,"

"Sakura, help me make him stay, please," The pinkette grimaced, "You know he'll listen to us,"

"I want him to stay I do, but he'll just be in danger here, remember how easily the rogues came after us when we were done in thr training grounds?" Ino sniffed, clutching to Naruto tighter.

"If I stay, you'll have a target on your back, a target I couldn't cover, it'd be a matter of time before I slipped up and you got hurt on my account," Naruto stretched out an arm and pulled Sakura into the hug, "I couldn't live with myself if something like that happened to either of you, I'll come back strong enough to protect this whole place, promise,"

"Why are you acting like we're leaving now?" Izuku appeared in the doorway, "You guys have six days still, go out, have fun, there's a travelling circus in the village right now, maybe buy a few trinkets, Naruto start a ritual to grab something from every village and town you visit," The three all looked at him, "Ino, Sakura I'm trusting you to keep working on your training, my Shadow Clone will be too busy to help you everyday, on the topic o us going, have any of you seen my spare bowstaff? I want Katuski to at least get the basics before we leave," Naruto looked at the two girls blankly, Sakura's eyes widened,

"Oh, yeah, it's in the attic, very front of the house, it was one of the first things we put up there because it was such a trip hazard,"

"Thank you," Izuku tapped the doorway and walked away. The three faintly heard him yelling for Katsuki.

"How much do you have left to pack?"

"Nothing I can't do tomorrow," Relenting before they could break him, the girls smiled as they dragged him out of the room and into the village.

Tsunade laced her fingers together and rested her nose on her hands. The level unemotive gaze began unnerving Naruto and he wasn't even the one getting the look. "I'm sorry, but you're excuse for a horde of injured shinobi who need several days to heal and a new lake for Konoha was,"

"Bowstaff training," Izuku nodded unfazed as Katsuki shied behind him. "That is correct," He and Katsuki had been summoned mere moments after Jiraiya and Naruto had, the latter pair now stood to the side while the former duo faced the first female Hokage's wrath.

"And are you going to explain just what happened?" He tilted his hand,

"Would you like the truth, one that will leave you without a headache or one that won't leave you reaching for sake?" The Hokage sighed and closed her eyes, a vein threatening to burst from her forehead,

"I'll tell you what, if you can tell me the truth in a way that doesn't make me reach for sake, I'll let you off this time," Izuku scratched his chin, thinking for a second, Naruto wasn't sure how his brothers would get out of this one.

"I was teaching Katsuki the basics of fighting with a bowstaff, several of your elite Jounin found us and challenged me to a spar, each one became more aggravated as the line went along,"

"And the lake?"

"I, uh, I might have had some Shadow Clones practising powerful water jutsus, I'll turn it back soon as I get the chance,"

"How?"

"A few fireball jut-,"

"Uzumaki Izuku, you are not using fireballs strong enough to evaporate a lake next to a forest,"

"I wasn't going to aim them across the lake," Izuku smiled, "I was just going to just from cliffs and fire them straight down, besides, anything I burn down I can regrow with Wood Style,"

"Of course you have Wood Style, what don't you have?"

"The Rinnegan, the Byakugan, a samurai sword, a loving mother, Iron Style, some Shogun armour,"

"What was that?"

"Shogun armour? It's really cool,"

"Not the armour brat! A loving mother,"

"Oh yeah that," Izuku feigned caring. "Well neither of my genetic donors cared for me, claiming I was an accidental byproduct so they could have the daughter they always wanted, I was starved, beaten, neglected, traumatized, the works but that's the stuff I do have, I'd really like Magnet release, the Ketsurygan," He waggled a finger "I don't have that,"

"We are not glossing over the fact you could have serious mental health prob-,"

"My mental health is fine thank you very much, I've gotten this far haven't I? 'sides, you need to save the therapists for people who actually need it, like Naruto, or Sasuke, maybe even Kakashi Hatake,"

"You rang?"

"Sweet Kami boy!" Jiraiya cried as the grey haired Jounin appeared from nowhere,

"My ears were heating up and I figured one of my little students was talking about me,"

"I'd like to apologize for a remark I made shortly after we met each other Kakashi, I've done more reading around the subject,"

"If you are truly sorry, never bring it up again," Tsunade stared between the shinobi before sighing heavily,

"Kakashi, you are going to be meeting with a trained therapist every week from now on, that's a direct order from your Hokage, Izuku, you are going to be having a very lengthy conversation about your, um,"

"Genetic donors? It's what I call my mothers,"

"Those," She pointed at him before pausing, "Wait mothers?"

"A tale for another time Tsunade,"

"Well whatever, we'll be talking about that after I'm done with Jiraiya and Naruto and after Kakashi tells me he just so happened to be in the area yet again," The Jounin shrugged,

"Heard Izuku made a new water feature, wanted to confirm," A neutral shrug from the cycloptic ninja, Naruto held back a sigh. Izuku was quite infamous among the Jounin of Konoha, the pranks he pulled on his own were the worst to get caught in, poor Asuma still has someone else open his cigarette packet after Izuku put spring loaded paper snakes in one. Tsunade groaned,

"At least that's one thing done, Izuku get out please,"

"Peace!" Izuku and Katsuki disappeared in a flash.

"Naruto, Jiraiya, what I wish to discuss is much less taxing than that," She sighed and leant back in her chair, "Naruto you can already preform the Rasengan correct?"

"Yup,"

"Wonderful, now how many tails can you use?"

"About three, four and I get impatient,"

"Alright, so while you are on your journey, Jiraiya will be teaching you about Senjutsu, or Sage arts,"

"Sage arts?"

"It is the practise of harnessing nature energy, external chakra if you will, to preform powerful attacks, trace chakra, it will be a long and arduous task because it requires immense focus and training, even if you use Shadow Clones, yes Sarutobi sensei did warn me the lot of you have learned the jutsu," A quick nod of acknowledgement, "It will allow you to better control the Nine Tail chakra without losing control, this is why you are to be gone for a few years, you can return once you have mastered it, understood?"

"Yes Lady Hokage," Naruto grinned widely, "It's never fun if something is too easy,"

"I hope you keep that attitude when you return,"

"Bet your bottom ryo I will!" 

"Good, dismissed," Naruto smirked and disappeared in a second.

"So this is it huh?" Sakura smiled sadly at the boys. All four stood with travelling packs on their backs and some food already in their pockets. The depatures were timed so they wouldn't leave all at once. Naruto watched the pinkette's eyes water, Ino was stood next to her looking away from the group.

"You better come back alive," Her voice quavered, "All of you or I'll come hunt you down and bring you back to kill you myself,"

"Understood," All four chorused before laughing gently. The great gates opened behind them as Orochimaru was first to appear by the group, walking over slowly. He still wore the same style of clothing as their meeting on Lookout Tower, except now there was a Konoha headband wrapped around his upper left arm.

"Sasuke, it's time to go I'm afraid," The raven-haired teen nodded solemnly before turning back to the group.

"I'll be back stronger than ever guys, once we're done I will have mastered my Eternal Mangekyou and I'll stand proudly as a member of Squad Seven," With that, the two walked away, slowly becoming smaller until they disappeared over the horizon. Izuku sighed and nudged Katsuki.

"Guess it's time we make tracks too, gotta let knucklehead say his goodbyes," The two chuckled lightly and Katsuki said his goodbyes. Izuku made a hand sign and his Shadow Clone popped into life, waving before jumping to the rooftops.

"I'll see you all again soon, promise," Katsuki gently hugged each of them, "You better be stronger when I get back or I'll kick your asses!" He challenged as the two made their way to the gate. "Especially you Naruto, I want a proper fight next time we see each other!"

"You got it Katsuki!" The blond cheered in response, ready for the fight. Soon enough the otherworldly brothers were gone on their own journey. Naruto shook his head, fighting back the tears but already in wonder of the stories they would all tell when they returned. Ino and Sakura were both crying as they hugged him tightly.

"You better come back, just come back," Sakura buried her face in the left side of his collar, "Because if you don't we will hunt you down and drag you back by your toenails,"

"We'll even get Tsunade to teach us how just for it," Ino confirmed through her own onslaught of tears. "We wouldn't be anywhere near as good as we are today without your help Naruto, so you better get stronger so we can keep training together, got it?"

"Y-yeah, I do," He stuttered, keeping his own tears away still, he could tell however he was starting to fail. Jiraiya appeared in a whirl of leaves and smiled gently.

"Let's move Naruto,"

"You got it Pervy Sage," He smiled as Tsunade appeared with the girls as the sage and blond reached the gates. Izuku had taught a lot in these walls, undoubtedly he teach him even more when they got back inside, but one lesson stuck with Naruto more than the others.

_When you are trying to move forwards, do not make the mistake of never looking back, because looking back will always remind you why you are doing something._

And so Naruto turned on his heel and looked back, waving wildly as he saw the vision of his entire family stood there. Itachi, Shisui, Katsuki, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Iruka, Kakashi, Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya to a lesser extent, Grampa Third and Tayuya as well and, there in the centre, smiling proudly stood Izuku his eyes giving an unspoken challenge. 'You better do your best'. His gaze moved up to the great stone faces and his fist clenched.

"You better believe it Konohagakure, I'm only gonna get stronger from here!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've reached the end of Naruto  
> Next up either a small prologue/ story of Naruto's journey  
> A flash into the world of BNHA  
> Or  
> We jump straight into the events of Shippuden  
> Honestly it's looking to be option 3 but I'll let you guys all vote. Y'all got a week, so December seventh to tell me what you'd prefer. Thanks again for sticking with me through this little drabble o'mine.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	16. It doesn't seem much different day to day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku and Katsuki bid farewell to their teachers,  
> Naruto returns to the village,  
> The world keeps turning.
> 
> "They got Sasuke!"

Yumiko Musha sighed as she stood from the chair in her office. Her joints creaked as they took to supporting her armour again. Once again she had been on a short patrol due to her increasing age. Checking the clock one more time she attached her blade to her side and walked through her office. It was a Sunday today, meaning it was the day she would go to her roots. In the centre of her agency building was a garden area, it was a gentle area with bamboo, water features including a koi pond, a single sakura blossom and several rocky decorations. The square was the whole reason she had built the agency around the area. Well, maybe not the entire square, maybe just the stone decoration in the middle of it all. Arriving to it at a gentle pace, Yumiko once again took it in. It appeared to just be a regular stone arch decoration, not unlike a smaller version of Stonehenge in Scotland, Yumiko reminsced about her holiday there in her earlier years. It had been, in a single word, cold. However it was not as cold as what was the other side of the arch. Of course anyone with a quirk would argue there was nothing the other side of the arch, it was a stone arch in the middle of a plaza. But to Yumiko, to a _quirkless_ , it was a gateway to the world she had learned how to be a hero, how to be a _samurai_. It was a gateway to the place called _The Land of Iron_. Moreso it was a gateway directly into the training grounds of the Samurai palace. Now that was _cold_ and it was a place that helped her feel like a teenager again. Although even back then she had been too wild to compare to the two clashing teens in front of her. "Yumiko, it is good to see in you good health still,"

"Mifune-sensei," She bowed to him despite her aging hips groaning to her.

"Yumiko, I have not been your sensei for years, however I am honoured to still weild so much of your respect," He wore bandages around his head, hiding the uneven hair left after a battle with a man named Hanzo. His hair still flowed from the bottom of the wrapping though, with the wisened grey flowing down to his hips. Under his knowledgable eyes were wrinkles to show his age, under them sat his goatee and beard, both of which fell freely to his chest. He donned a traditional samurai garb, unlike his subordinates, the underneath a dark suit with matching gloves. A breastplate that turned into four plates protecting his upper legs and matching shoulder pads. His shins and lower arms were protected by identical silver guards and despite the cold he wore sandals to finish his look. "Time has treated you kindly if you are still able to carry such cumbersome armour,"

"Not as kindly as it treats you sensei, you still don't look a day over sixty," He laughed gently as they sat down on a nearby bench.

"If these boys keep up such fascination in what I can teach them, I am afraid I will look closer to two hundred from stress," The two he was referring to were still clashing steel, everytime Yumiko visited the boys would be fighting, testing their mettle. "I admire such dedication, even using a shinobi art to learn as much as they can quickly as they could, I ran out of scrolls last week, now I simply test them on their knowledge," They watched the two boys pause on the ground for a moment, "Honestly, I never thought I would see the day when two triple S ranking shinobi came knocking on our door humbly asking to learn what Samurai could teach them," Both wore outfits similar to Mifune, the only difference was the coloring, one was as forest green as his hair and his eyes when the _Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan_ wasn't active.

"I am still in shock the two revealed to be from my world, it seems so, bizarre when one has the Sharingan of the Uchiha, especially when all I brought here wished to stay, even to just be civilians and yet they wish to return ,"

"Izuku told me of that, he recieved them from his first sensei, Uchiha Shisui, as what he believed to be a dying wish for several years, in fact he only kept them after he learned of Shisui's survival because the Uchiha knew he would protect them, but to think they would both choose to become part of the Uzumaki clan," The clashing of metal rang out again and they peered at Izuku's opponent, a boy with ash blond hair, his armour orange as the sky during an autumnal sunset, eyes as red as the _Sharingan_ yet he did not possess the dojutsu.

"It is an easy explanation to their inherent chakra prowess," They watched both boys leap apart and sheath their blades, crouching low. Each slid their right foor forwards as their right hand clutched the handle of their blades, in a second they had met in the center of the training ring. Waves of air accompanied the ringing sound, sending a wave of cold air over Yumiko, It was so much better than a stuffy office.

"Alright boys, that is enough," Mifune called out to them. She watched as the teenages stood up, relaxed and put their blades away, bowing to each other before making the shinobi sign of reconciliation, a habit the Samurai had begun to pick up strangely enough. It symbolized the saying 'no hard feelings' and to Yumiko it seemed a moot point with how much like brothers the boys were. They hurried over from the ring and bowed before kneeling.

"Thank you for overseeing our spar sensei, we know you like your meditation time so we appreciate you deciding to instead watch us," Izuku spoke, his voice was deeper than when she had met the pair, but that was to be expected, he was no longer the thirteen year old shinobi, now he was a sixteen year old hybrid, master of both Samurai arts and Ninja arts. "Yumiko-sempai, a pleasure to see you as always," He nodded his head in curt greeting.

"Time has been kind to you Yumiko-sempai, I still cannot fathom how you could ever wear armour so cumbersome,"

"You calling me old Katsuki?"

"I would never sempai, I am simply glad to see you in good health,"

"And I am to see my kohai train with such vigor," Izuku smiled bittersweetly,

"I am afraid we can't be your kohai for much longer Yumiko-sempai, we must return home to see our family and friends, upon a recent meditation we have felt a darkness rising over the horizon, one that we must return to Konoha to face, but before that, how is our homeworld faring these days? It has been quite some time since you last spoke of it,"

"I agree," Mifune nodded "It has been a while since we heard your stories," She sighed and nodded.

"Very well, although not much has changed since I last told you of it, Izuku, you were right about All Might's timer shrinking, she is down to six hours now, I have seen it myself, if unintentionally at the recent charting event," The greenette's face soured but she still did not know why. "The Midoriya's and the Bakugo's seem in good health, I still wish to know why you ask me to check in on your old families,"

"Just to make sure they have forgotten us completely, if we are to return, having them try to reclaim us would be, troublesome, as an old friend used to say,"

"The Iida family still do not talk of Tenya that much, Tomoko and Tenshi are always front and centre, Todoroki often brings her son around to train in kenjutsu with me, although after a recent issue with his twin sister breaking one of his most prized blades, he also trains more in your taijutsu, although I still can not find the right time to teach him of chakra, the Yaoyorozu's refuse to allow me to see Moku after they met with Todoroki, it appears Shoko is well versed in slander and deceit, Daisy Shield and her daughter Melissa did visit after a meeting with All Might and Todoroki, Melissa heard rumours of a vigilante duo, clad in black with decorated white masksa appearing randomly throughout the last three years, only being known as the Twin Kages" At this all three men looked elsewhere, "It is none of my business but be sure that your clones aren't discovered until _after_ you are accepted into UA," Izuku and Katsuki rubbed the back of their heads. "They were clones correct?"

"I would give them a day or two off while I prepared more lessons for them over the years, they often took a month to learn what normally takes a year, I did not give them the idea,"

"But you did not stop them once you found out, Mifune-sensei, we spoke of this!"

"I know, however the boys were never discovered and no-one ever saw them come through your gateway," The eldest Samurai reasoned, "They knew how to slip in and out unseen, they were never tied to your organisation correct?"

"Apart from the shinobi-Samurai link no, there was nothing they could use,"

"This Melissa," Izuku changed subject, "Is she quirkless?"

"No, they claim she has Computing, a quirk which allows her superhuman intelligence," Katsuki scoffed,

"Anything can be 'superhuman' if trained up enough, we could slice a blouder if we wanted to with our kenjutsu, a mountain if we used our chakra avatars," He shook his head, "Forgive me, I did not mean to interrupt,"

"It is fine Kohai, I should think it is about time you began packing if you are leaving soon?"

"Actually we are leaving today, we'll be travelling nonstop to Konoha since we need to move through Lightning Country, Raikage was not pleased when he discovered we had been learning averything they had against his wishes,"

"Are you not clones?" Mifune gazed, "I would have thought after all you had decided to learn, a Shadow Clone for the Samurai would be,"

"A great dishonour to your legacy and a poor idea on our part, the Land of Iron is the furthest from Konoha, we simply journeyed up here slowly and left Shadow Clones behind at points of interest, the only place we truly could not access was Rain but I am sure we will access the knowledge soon," Izuku added with a smile, "We shall gather our items and prepare a meal before we leave, we know how much you adore me Katsudon," Yumiko smiled and looked over to their sensei, who's eyes shone like a five year old in a sweet store.

"Some days I honestly believe you are still but an infant trapped in the body of a one-hundred and thirty-nine year old man sensei,"

"You are only forty years younger than I am!" He barked playfully, "And you love the dish as much as I do,"

They soon bid the duo a cheeful farewell, watching them disappear into the snow. Yumiko then bid her own goodbye, promising to visit again in the next week as she always did. Upon reaching the gateway she found one of the boys' kunai attached to one of the stones, it had two seals on it and a not efrom the handle. _If you ever need our help, don't hesitate to call us Sempai, you know how_. Smiling fondly she added the kunai to her stores in her many plates of armour and trudged back into the weary world of Musutafu, hopefully she lived long enough to greet the two back despite the boredom of office life.

* * *

"We should be there any minute now," Jiraiya looked towards the horizon.

"Yes, _should_ if we didn't have a doddering old fool leading us we would've gotten there yesterday," Izuku remarked teasingly. Naruto stifled a laugh, even though this version of his brother was a Shadow Clone, it had lasted the three years without fail, learning alongside the blond and growing attached to Jiraiya somehwere along the way too.

"You got something to say brat?" The white haired elder growled back.

"Nah, Boss and Katsuki are on their way back, they aren't stopping and will use Flying Raijin once they are in Fire country territory, you can make the last couple hundred metres without me right?" Both the blond and the Sannin nodded as the greenette disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves.

"Is it weird I forgot that was a Shadow Clone travelling with us for the past three years?"

"No, but it was starting to get hard to ignore the fact he wasn't growing," Naruto shrugged, after the first few months travelling it had become apparent that Naruto was gaining height on his brother's Shadow Clone. After three years he was looking down on the greenette, physically at least, Izuku would always have him beat in the intelligence category. It didn't matter though, the journey had been fun, Naruto had actually learned so much. Jiraiya had stayed true to his word and kept away from bath houses and generally being a pervert. Of course he slipped up and occasionally stared but honestly, the blond had expected as much, people don't just change, it took time and a lot of self control. The old man was still going to perv out occasionally, but he wasn't trying to peep anymore, his eyes would just wander up and down a particularly attractive woman once and a while. Naruto sighed, at least he didn't drool when someone mentioned boobs.

"That does make me feel a bit silly," Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head, "Honestly the boy actually helped me get some of my head together and I didn't even notice he wasn't growing,"

"I'm sure Izuku won't mind, he's the patient type remember?" They grew closer to the gates when two Jounin stopped them.

"Identification," The duo hande over their plastic slips and smiled. "Naruto? You've gotten so tall since we last saw you, you'll need to update the card since you've grown up,"

"You got it Ibiki,"

"Alright guys, go on ahead, we'll notify Lady Hokage to expect you in her office," The duo nodded and walked into Konohagakure.

"Alright, you go and catch up with your friends and find your sister if you can, no doubt she'll want to see Sasuke and Orochimaru return, I'll go talk to Tsunade,"

"Still got the kunai?" Jiraya dangled it from his open hand, around the handle was a parchment holding the technique formula for Naruto's Flying Raijin jutsu.

"Anything goes amiss or we need you just push a bit of chakra into it and you'll come teleporting," They shared a chuckle before Jiraiya disappeared in a swirl of leaves. naruto meanwhile finally allowed the reality to catch up to him. In boyish excitement he ran up the nearest electrics pole and stood on top, gazing over the hidden village.

"Watch out Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto is back!" He cheered lifting his arms up in celebration. He jumped towards the rooftops and bounced around with joy. Even though he'd moved houses just before he left, he knew the house he was looking for. Even if he forgot the path, the garden they'd specially made, the way they'd painted the walls shortly after moving in to feel more like a home, even if he had forgotten that (Which he didn't thank you very much) he'd never forget what was inside, _who_ was inside. Konohagakure was a muddle of chakra signatures, chakra he hadn't really been able to sense when he'd left due to his poor control of his own, and Kurama's but that's a different story.

**'Oh I bet it is Kit, just keep the noise down, after all that training to get your Rasen-whatever I need a nap'**

There he was, the old sleeper. The nine-tailed fox and probably closest thing to a father figure Naruto had while it had been him, Sasuke and Izuku. The greenette from another world had been an older brother to the duo of then orphans, (Recent in Sasuke's case) but it had been Kurama that had reminded the three of them to bathe, taught them reading, writing and mathematics, after all living in people for a coupld decades teaches you things. Naruto knew without both he wouldn't be the knucklehead ninja today.

**'I am touched Kit, but keep the noise down'**

Yup, Kurama was a saint and even if he denied it for eternity, Kurama had gone soft on the boys. Training together had proven it, Naruto could sense the hatred that had once been in the great fox was now absent. Just like he could sense every chakra signature in the area individually, whereas before it was difficult to sense them unless they were at close range. As soon as he had entered the village, he'd latched onto the two most familiar in seconds, followed by the two he knew best. As if by fate, three of the four had been in the same place while one was out in the village, most likely at a shop. 'So she finally got a job,' Naruto laughed to himself, closing in on the other three but flaring his own slightly to aler the fourth. Landing in front of the door Naruto pulled back his sleeve to reveal a small seal halfway up his forearm, the result of an expirement Izuku and he had tried. Pushing a small bit of chakra into the seal caused a key to pop from it. Swiping it quickly he gently opened the door and stepped inside, taking a deep breath of the smell he missed so much.

The smell of _home_.

"I'm home," He called out jokingly, only for a pink blur to crash into him as he shut the door. "Hey Sakura!"

"Naruto, god I missed you," She squeezed his chest in her arms, surprised him with the amount of strength she had hidden in her oddly thin arms.

"Sakura, breathe, uncle, uncle!" He cried before his ribs could crack, "You've sure gotten a lot stronger since then,"

"And you've gotten a lot taller, now I have to look up to you, not fair,"

"I'm sure you'll get used to it," He chuckled "Man the stories I have for you guys," The two seperated and began walking further into the house, it was almost exactly as when he'd left, only real difference so far being the new paint on the walls.

"Little bro!" Naruto was so busy talking to Sakura he didn't even have time to fully turn before something black crashed into him. Or more precisely, _jumped_ into him. Quickly the blond was taken down by an older teen wearing a blindfold that sat over short black hair.

"Shisui," He laughed as they both got up, "It's nice to see you again, didn't go for Izuku's eyes while we were gone?"

"He did," A much more controlled voice came towards them from the kitchen. "But there was an, interesting development to say the least," A taller teen smiled softly and hugged Naruto, "At least one of my former students decided to come home,"

"Itachi, don't be like that," He regarded the tallest Uchiha with a smile. He had been Naruto's first sensei and first authority figure he could respect or even listen to. Shisui had of course been a teacher as well but the two were the stereotypes to a T. Itachi was the work harder than you play teacher, constantly testing them, pushing them to improve, while Shisui was the workd hard play just as much teacher that goofed off with them occasionally. Not saying Shisui didn't give them the drive to improve, but it was always easier to make Shisui laugh than Itachi.

"And pray tell, why wouldn't we come home?" That voice behind him was a voice Naruto didn't need to recognize, because he'd spoken to the user less than five minutes ago. A soft whack around his head, "You shouldn't have put that glitter bomb in his seals," Of course Izuku would know, Izuku always knew. The fact his Shadow Clone gave him information was pointless because Izuku just _knew_ like a sixth sense when it came to Naruto's antics.

_'Because I can read your mind idiot'_

**'Noise, down please, trying to sleep'**

_'Apologies Kurama,'_

Izuku's presence was no longer in his mind, the blond that had appeared with him was hugging the Uchihas. "Heya guys, you didn't forget me did you?"

"How could we Katsuki? You left quite the impression, challenging Naruto before you all left for your own journeys," Itachi smiled, "You can tell us all about your travels soon alright? We are just awaiting one more," Naruto felt a buzz in the back of his mind, meaning only one thing.

"We might have to cut that short, Jiraiya's using the kunai I gave him," Grabbing onto the greenette and fellow blond, Naruto smiled and disappeared in a flash of yellow. Yes nothing had truly changed.

They promptly arrived in the Hokage's office to see a furious Jiraiya with a face full of glitter, along with sparkling hair and Tsunade currently losing her shit in a fit of laughter. Izuku smirled while Katsuki laughed wildly, joining Tsunade after long. Naruto tried his best not to laugh, his cheeks puffing while some chuckles escaped. Jiraiya's eyebrow twitched slightly as he glared irately. "Would it help if I said you weren't supposed to open it so close to your face?" Tsunade and Katsuki paused to listen before breaking down again, Jiraiya twitched several more times as Izuku began laughing as well.

"Does it help if I," Jiraiya mocked his student's voice, "OF COURSE IT DOESN'T HELP BRAT!" 

"I mean on the plus side, you look _fabulous darling_ ," Izuku drawled, Katsuki hopped on the spot clutching his stomach. Tsunade just kept trying to avoid falling from her chair.

"Oh my stomach, I'm going to throw up dango," She wiped a tear from her eye before looking at Jiraiya again and laughing some more.

"How do I get this off?"

"Wash your face, spend several minutes in a shower, brush your hair a lot and repeat for a couple days," Naruto summarized "Otherwise you'll see sparkles in your hair for a few months," Tsunade wheezed.

"Alright brat that's enough, go home, I'm going to try and restore my glorious appearance,"

"Can't restore what you never had," Izuku sang before grabbing his brothers and disappearing. Even from their house they heared Jiraiya hollaring

"UZUMAKI!!" Shisui flinched and Itachi simply sighed

"You've been home five minutes and already you're causing chaos," The taller Uchiha shook his head "Do I even want to know?"

"I may or may not have hidden a glitter bomb in one of Jiraiya's seals that he may or may not have taken directly to his face," Shisui roared with laughter while Itachi cracked a small smile. Sakura just stared catatonically until the door burst open and a thid blonde appeared, colliding directly with Naruto.

"YOU'RE BACK!" Ino cried hugging him, "I felt your chakra pulse while I was in the shop and rushed over soon as I could!"

"You're manning your families flower shop now huh?"

"Yeah, it's a nice time waster when not on missions with Sakura and Sai,"

"Sai?" Izuku looked around for the owner of the name.

"He's a former ROOT agent, according to Tsunade they were able to corner him recently but he managed to weasel his way out again, Sai was the one they managed to catch, luckily they removed the seal with the instructions you left behind," Sakura placated.

"You found Danzo and didn't tell us?"

"Because he got away,"

"I was here!"

"As a Shadow Clone," Itachi intervened, "Had you known you and Katsuki would've dropped everything to get back here, we weren't doing that," The greenette sighed and nodded in acceptance before his body straightened. "What's happened?"

"Sasuke," Naruto felt himself pale, the only way Izuku would know is if his Shadow Clone was dispelled, "Back to Tsunade, now," Naruto nodded and disappeared as Izuku reached for Katsuki.

Orochimaru burst in as the boys materialized. "Izuku, I'm so sorry," The grey Sannin almost fell over his own feet in his rush. "I know you trsuted me, I tried doing everything,"

"Orochimaru, what happened?!" Tsunade stood up from her chair, Jiraiya appeared in the door, having wiped most of the glitter from his face. The snake Sannin fell to his knees and Tsunade began healing his wounds.

"I don't know, we were on our way back, I had Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo from the prison Danzo forced me to keep them in, when ROOT attacked us, on my order they began hurrying straight here, Sasuke was the only one to stay behind with myself and Izuku's Shadow Clone, we were almost winning until Danzo himself appeared, he distracted Sasuke and must've put him under some sort of genjutsu because next thing I know, Sasuke has started killed Izuku's Shadow Clone and had disappeared with Danzo," Naruto's knuckles turned white. "Have the other three,"

"They are here Sensei, I could sense them arriving so I went to deal with them at the gate," Naruto's only blood relative appeared in the doorway. Tayuya led in a boy with purple eyes and sea foam white hair, a bespecaled girl with red shoulder length hair and a boulder of a man with short orange hair. "This is Suigetsu Hozuki," The purple-eyed boy smiled with a sharp toothed grin.

"Greetings,"

"Juzo," He nodded silently, a flat smile on his face. "And Karin Uzumaki,"

"I was told I had family here?" She seemed nervous. Tsunade rubbed her left temple.

"Orochimaru, you are helping with the paperwork to get them in as shinobi, Karin, meet Naruto, Izuku and Katsuki Uzumaki, orange is bloodline, other two are adopted, Tayuya is also an Uzumaki, however due to the fact you seem to have had limited interactions I'm guessing you didn't know that, brat, she's your responsibility now,"

"Karin you're going to shadow Tayuya for a while as probation, then you can do as you please once we've decided you're not planning on betraying us anytime soon," Naruto nodded, "I would love to give you an official welcome but at this point in time, my brothers and I were about to go and hunt down Danzo,"

"You can't,"

"You did not inform me you had found him, finding him led us to this situation, we are doing this Tsunade, Katsuki, Naruto get moving, you two are fastest without Raijin, I'll warp to you with Sakura," The blondes nodded as they ran towards the window and leapt away. He heard Izuku shift and face the Fifth Hokage. "I'm disappointed,"

"Been a while eh blondie?" Katsuki barked as they leapt from branch to branch, "Last I saw you we were pipsqueaks," Naruto laughed as they jumped.

"Heh, yeah, guess we all grew up,"

"Still a prankster though, Jiraiya proves it," Trees races passed them, "So how have you been? Izuku told me you don't like being alone a lot, so travelling with Jiraiya and a Shadow Clone,"

"It wasn't as bad as you think if I'm honest, we visited Wave country to see how they were doing after Gato, we visited Sunakagure and had some time with Gaara, only issue was Lightning country, even Stone was more welcoming, even after Kurotsuchi and Izuku broke up, there didn't seem to be any bad blood,"

"There won't be, Izuku told me how the relationships weren't so fragile a relationship issue would snap them, and she did dump him after all, it'd be kinda hard for them to blame us," Us, Naruto had to get used to that again, when it was Jiraiya, Izuku and him it wasn't hard to know who was talking about who. Now there was a whole village again and his clan was what? Five people strong now, and his family was, Sakura, Ino, Shisui, Itachi, Tsunade, Sakura, wait no he'd listed her twice now, Jiraiya, Gamabunta and Gamakichi, Ma and Pa, Itachi, wait fuck, did he say Itachi already? Nevermind. Suffice to say his family was large and it was getting larger again.

"How was your time in the Land of Iron?"

"Got used to the cold, but damn do those Samurai know how to make a bed, feather stuffed mattress, silk duvets, every night was heaven," Katsuki weaved around a particularly nasty branch. "Gonna miss them but I might send a Shadow Clone to Mifune sometime with a thank you gift, he adored Izuku's spicy katsudon,"

"Oh did he finally get it down?" Katsuki barked out a laugh.

"Nope, btu the Samurai surprisingly love spicy foods more than I do, so the more chilli he put in the more they wanted," They continued in silence for a second, "Y'know I think this is one of the first times you and I have hung out together exclusively," Naruto's eyes widened.

"Seriously? Has Izuku always been around when we hang out?"

"I, yeah I think so,"

"Man that is weird," They jumped apart for a couple seconds before moving back to the same path. "So what do you wanna know about me? I met Izuku when I was six, we started training together, when we were seven things went sidways,"

"I was seven when he disappeared," Katsuki nodded "Lines up, didn't see him much after we turned four, weekends he went missing and weekdays we were just tormented by our fam- I mean, our old genetic donors and replicas," Naruto knew that for Katsuki to talk so clinically about the Bakugos, they must be horrible people, which is why he made the decision to be one of the best brothers Katsuki could ask for, second only to Izuku, because Izuku was the best brother ever, period. "Anyway, if you want to know anything about me, there isn't actually much to know, I'm the second adopted member of the Uzumaki clan, third member overall, second Primal chakra user, recently I discovered my favourite colour is orange,"

"What, no way, mine too!"

"Mine's more muted than yours, like a dark orange instead of your, and I'm quoting Izuku here, 'kill me orange jumpsuits of not-hiding', but I can respect that you changed out the blue for black," Naruto grumbled about Izuku's decription of his jumpsuit, there was nothing wrong with it. He liked orange, least he didn't have Sasuke godawful bangs, (yes he remembered the word from way back when) then again bangs with his blond hair would look atrocious. "Anyway what's the old perv been like?"

"Not bad, he actually managed to stay away from the bathouses, still eye fucks,"

"Language," They both muttered before laughing.

"Anyway, still does that to the occasional babe but the shoot downs are glorious," They kept moving as Naruto felt something familiar in the air, "Sasuke's close, whatever Danzo did to him, we shouldn't Raijin in," Pushing his chakra around he alerted Izuku. A flash of green and Izuku was beside him with Sakura just behind them.

"Situation?"

"Nearby, not alone, aren't going to Raijin in,"

"Good, don't, let's get the drop on them," Izuku nodded, "Sakura, I know you've improved greatly so we aren't going to protect you, you need cover call for it otherwise we're all busy,"

"Understood captain,"

"Naruto, focus on Sasuke, I'm going to try get Danzo, Katuski and Sakura, whatever ROOT agents there are," They saw the large group moving through the trees just below them. Sasuke was among the large group, including one wearing Akatsuki robes and an orange mask with a swirl leading to the right eye. Danzo was also among them, leading the group next to the Akatsuki member. "Change of plans, Katsuki you're on Danzo, primal chakra can help genjutsu, Naruto stay on Sasuke, if you can either knock him out or push your chakra into his system, Sakura take out as many of those bastards as you can, I'll take Akatsuki man, understand?"

"Yes captain," The three nodded to him.

"Good, go!" They sped up and cut of the group in a clearing, immediately Izuku used his Primal Ice Mirror jutsu to trap them in the clearing. "Either give us back Sasuke Uchiha or preish where you stand," the Akatsuki member knocked his head with his knuckles.

"Aw poop, the Konoha ninja found us Danzo, looks like we hafta fight!" Izuku was gone, in front of the Akatsuki member in moments.

"Tobi, you are to take care of him, be careful he is deadly,"

"Flattery from a traitor," Izuku growled as the now revealed Tobi leapt into a section of the clearing, "I'll make your death just a little less painful for it," He disappeared to fight the masked man. Katsuki was next, charging forwards to attack Danzo, who also leapt away to a new segment.

"Get them!" He yelled to the ROOT agents, who Sakura readily met while Naruto carved a path through them to Sasuke.

"Oi dope! Break out of it!" The raven haired teen silently dodged his attacks. "So you're not talking to me are you?" The jaw remained clamped shut as his fist connected with it, sending Sasuke flying across the clearing. "Talk you bastard!"

"He can't!" Izuku yelled across the clearing, "Danzo's got him under orders to not reveal the seal under his tongue, so the mouth ain't opening unless we force it to," They heard Danzo laugh "It's his insurance policy, we won't kill him so long as the seal keeps Sasuke alive, we can't kill him unless we're okay with Sasuke going too," Naruto growled and frowned at the ravenette.

"Katsuki, swap partners!" The blonds swapped positions and Naruto began an onslaught against Danzo. "I will make you pay Danzo," Red chakra bubble over his body. Fury he had not felt filled his very being.

"How will you do that Jinchuuriki? You can't hope to defeat me _demon_ ," Izuku and Katsuki laughed as Sakura paused her fight to shake her head.

"You just pressed the demon button," She sucked her teeth as another ROOT member fell at her feet. Danzo snorted and eyed Naruto, who's skin began peeling away to reveal a scrambled mess of dark red chakra with eyes and a white smile. The distance between them was crossed in the blink of an eye.

"Y̷̡͚̰̩͌o̶̢͚̘̜̞͊̑̍͌͠ų̸̦̼̰̰̇͆̉̌͆ ̴͍̝̦̖̘͇̃s̷͉̭̠͍̽̓͐͑ͅͅh̴̨̨͍̥̥̙̍̂̒ȯ̸̪̘͎̖̲̆̓͂u̶̦̝̭̣̦̇̔͊̃͝l̸̬̭̦͈͆̾̅d̶̢͓̤̞̮̝̎͛̉͘n̸̼̪̰͔̓̍̈́͜'̴̧͎̰̹̙̉̈́͂̀̋t̸̰̙̋̂͛͂͋̾ ̶̧̮̹͕̋͐å̸̢͉̺̮̹͊̓͊͋̓ ̵͎̜̫͔͈̾͐̉͘d̵̡̹̭͕̊̃í̴̡͓͎̹̙̈́̉ḍ̶̙̼̳͙̞͛͂̓̇̅ ̴̝͒͆̾͜t̴̰̞̤̓͋̀̓h̷̨̤̖͓̮͑̉̒̊̊̎ä̶̧̢͙̲̣́̅̑̚t̶̗͙͖͖̙̐́̊͐͠ "

His voice warped into something unrecognizable, the words being the last of understandable speech. He dropped to all fours and began attacking Danzo wildly, causing the elder to go onto the back foot, simply concentrating on survival. "You can't kill me! Not unless you want the Uchiha to join his treacherous clan!" Naruto just roared and upped his attacks.

"He's not going to kill you," Izuku barked, "He's just going to make you fucking hurt!" Sakura had dispatched all ROOT agents and had begun helping Katsuki with Sasuke. Naruto zeroed in on Danzo and screamed a bone-chilling, blood-curdling sound. 

"Danzo, I think it's time to run away," Tobi cheered depressingly, "Now the nine-tails has come out to play we'll surely go home empty handed,"

"You may well be right, Uchiha!" Danzo called, only to see the ravenette unconscious between Katuski and Sakura. He grit his teeth and growled, "Next time you will either perish or join me,"

"Not likely Shimura!" Izuku yelled, trying to charge Tobi one last time. The man suddenly began swirling around his eye and disappeared into nothingness, Danzo leapt away, disappearing in the same manner. Naruto raged around the clearing, the waves of his chakra began shattering each mirror. "You two, get clear," Izuku began storming over to the raging Naruto.

"Izuku, no, it's too!" Izuku raised his arm while Naruto roared at him.

**Whap**

Naruto's head shook in confusion as it looked at Izuku, who was holding a rolled up newspaper in his hand. Katsuki and Sakura deadpanned as they watched Izuku beat Naruto over the head with it. Everytime Naruto screamed or growled was another whack around the head. The chakra beast began shrinking against Izuku before it grabbed his wrist and screamed in his face. Izuku pursed his lips and glared impassively. The red began to recede from the blond as he regained his self control. 

**Whap**

"Oi, what was that one for?"

"Losing control,"

**Whap**

"That's for being stupid enough to give me this power," Izuku tapped the paper to his thigh and it disappeared into a seal. "Alright Squad, we need to get back to Konoha with Sasuke now, Jiraiya can hopefully remove the seal before we break the genjutsu over him," They grouped together, supporting Sasuke between them, before disappearing with a flicker not even disturbing the wind.

The ravenette groaned as he sat up from the hospital bed. "Ugh," 

"Welcome back to the world sleeping beauty," Izuku teased,

"Shut it I-z-u-ku," Memories pelted the boy, "Oh my god I am so," He was tackled by a small red blur that pinned him down to the bed.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?!" Tayuya Uzumaki clutched him tightly, "Orochimaru comes flying back telling everyone Danzo managed to ambush you and then get you under his control! I was so worried you were going to leave!" Naruto felt his heart warm at the scene, so far he'd just stood and watched silently as Izuku manned the doorway.

"We removed the seal while you were out of it and then Naruto shot a burst of chakra through you to break you out of the genjutsu they'd put you under applying the seal," The greenetted shook his head, "And all is forgiven, except the fact you were stubborn enough to stay behind even though they were after you," He chuckled nervously. 

"Heh, yeah, sorry abotu that, are the others?"

"Everyone is home, Itachi and Shisui are going to give you an earful for being stubborn, Ino and Sakura are just relieved you're okay, Katsuki is nursing that nice bruise to his ribs you gave him, Orochimaru is happy you're back, along with the other two Sannin, Kakashi is worried but he's being his childish self and not talking about it, don't worry I'll get it out of him eventually," The greenette shook his head, "They've all missed you both terribly, everyday my Shadow Clone was hearing how much they wanted you to get back, oh god Sakura had one clone try make ramen with her for a surp- y'know what? Forget I said that,"

"I kinda forgot you had a Shadow Clone back here while we were gone," Naruto shrugged

"I had several, learning all the hidden jutsu and listening out for kekki genkai for me to nick, by the way, Sakura has a dual affinity for earth and water, we might had a third wood style on Squad Seven if Tsunade approves my request to train her, I've had a Shadow Clone be an unofficial therepist for Kakashi for a while now and I think he's catching on, just, don't be surprised if he's more affectionate from now on, 'kay?" Sasuke whistled,

"You're a busy man Uzumaki Izuku," The greenette frowned.

"You have no idead,"

* * *

It had been a quiet night. Momo and her family had gone to yet another grand dinner and oh sweet christ were they getting old. Her mothers just kept introducing her to all these chicks that didn't understand responsibility. "Do you understand it though?" A voice startled her as she looked around until in a whirl of air, a figure was stood in front of her. Dressed all in black with a hood up. The only thing Momo could really discern was the fact they were wearing black sandals.

"Who are you?"

"Me? Nobody, less than nobody, technically I'm dead here, but also technically I don't exist since records of my existence have been erased,"

"What do you want with me?" She reached into her bag for the pepper spray.

"Oh nothing, they however," The figure pointed over her shoulder "Have been following you on your little walk for the last five blocks, recognize them?" Whirling around she saw two onimous figures leering towards her.

"No,"

"Are they the reason you're walking?"

"No, I just needed some fresh air and got lost, I don't know who they are but they look like thugs," The figure simply hummed and put a hand on her shoulder, an alien warmth spread through her system. "I figured as much, well whatever, ladies can I ask you please back away from us and go about your night?" A predatory smile in return, there was a gentle sigh, "Very well, if I could ask you turn around for this Miss," Momo turned around as the figure strode past her. The eerie part was the silence that followed, no sound of a fight, nothing being fired, drawn, transformed.

Pure silence.

"Don't turn aorund,"

"GAAH!" Momo will deny to her dying breath that she in fact jumped three feet forwards once the voice was over her shoulder.

"I guarantee you won't like it,"

"Are they dead?"

"No," The figure admitted "But I'd be hard pressed to say you'd understand what you were seeing," Against the figures wishes she turned around to see two more figures with the duo that had followed her. One had their hands to the ground as saplings sprouted from the concrete while the other was poking certain points on the bodies at high speeds. Both thugs were silent, their mouths seeming to refuse to open. Once that once done each figure looked the would be attackers in the eyes and the struggling bodies went limp. "Alright all done boss," One saluted before disappearing in a puff of smoke. The other tapped the trees that restrained the unmoving bodies before attaching a note to one and looking up. Momo stepped backwards as fire raced from their mouth into the open night, forming a blazing dragon that roared into the silence. It disappatated and the figure turned to smoke as well. "As I said, you won't understand, at least not yet," Momo was suddenly scooped up in a bridal carry and impossibly they were walking up thew wall to the rooves of the highrises around them. "Now to get you back to your party," They reached the roof and the figure began bounding forwards. Momo could feel the heartbeat through their chest and oddly enough began feeling comforted by it.

"How do I know this isn't all a ploy?"

"You don't, but you'll almost certainly never see me again and once I'm a mere memory you can't thank, then you'll realize I'm just trying to help," They quickly returned to the estate the party was being hosted on. Her mothers saw them approach and began dashing over. The figure's face was still masked in shadow despite the light shining at them. Momo barely made out dark green hair.

"Momo!"

"She is fine, unharmed, I intervened before the thugs drew close, I'd advise getting something ready to help deal with the shock that will settle in a few hours," The figure allowed her to stand, "Missus and Missus Yaoyorozu, I'd like to thank you for hosting such a lovely party, I wish my mothers would take me to such extravagant outings, unfortunately they believe I'm dead already," There it was again, if this person was dead there'd be missing posters or something.

"Is there any,"

"I'm classified as dead, I went missing over a decade ago, you have no chance of finding me as the recordsd were destroyed to cover up my disappearance and supposed death,"

"Are you quite?"

"My mothers are very thorough, if rumor got out that I was dead it would look very bad for my mother," The one he had the worse connection with.

"Ma'am,"

"I'm no madam I'm afraid Missus Yaoyorozu, now if you'll excuse me I must get back home, but before I do," A small blade was handed to her, she recognized it as a kunai. Around the handle was parchment covered in complex symbols. "If you ever need help again young Miss, please focus on that, it will alert me and I shall be by your side in second you do, now I really must be off," The figure was suddenly gone in a swirl of wind that reminded Momo oddly of a forest and where those leaves floating to the ground? Her mind faltered as she processed the last part. _I'm no madam._ In her mind's eye she pictured the figure again, wide shoulders, standing taller than her, thick arms and strong thighs, flat chest. Except it wasn't flat, Momo could feel the muscles under the shirt figure wore. It all lined up, even Moku, her twin brother had always seemed bulkier than her, not to mention the difference in hip width, the figure definitely had a masculine stance. Looking around the rooftops for any sign of the figure she mumbled to herself.

"Was I just saved by a man?"


	17. But looking back it all changed so much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group fall back into old routines.  
> Naruto get that spar from Katsuki.
> 
> "Shit! Gaara!"  
> Ah, that too

Naruto tried to stretch as he woke up, only to find his arms pinned to the mattress. Ah, the mattress, truly a wonderful creation. After sleeping in the forests of a bed roll for three years, (Curse Jiraiya's frugality) Naruto's back felt more like a sixty year old's than a sixteen year olds. His arm pinned was also unfamiliar, since he'd not had bedmates sonce before he left. (No he does not ever count the Water country incident, Kurama and he never speak of it) The only ones willing to share a bed with him back then were Ino and Sakura, but those two had three years without him, surely they got partners already,

Right?

Because Naruto still hadn't had a relationship, ever. When they were younger sharing a bed seemed harmless enough, but as a sixteen year old, Naruto thought **WAY** too far into it. Pink hair shuffled in his vision and Naruto finally decided to look at his chest. Platinum blonde hair sat on the left of his chest and pink sat on the right. Ino and Sakur awere using him as a pillow yet again. Well they hadn't done it in three years, maybe they'd not find it as comfortable since he was more muscular than before. Either way Naruto was way to distracted by the two girls cuddling him. They both nuzzled further into his warmth and he did the only thing left in his mind.

He panicked.

Kurama was once again laughing at his suffering and being his regular unhelpful self while Naruto tried to move with the bodies on his arms. Sakura's leg lifted over his and he froze. Nope, not trying it, maybe he can fake being. "Oh, g'morning Naruto," Ino slurred smiling up at him.

Shinigami come take him now. Blond stared at blonde while she seemed to process where she was.

"Comfy, haven't slept so well in a while," She murmured before resting her head on his chest again. He could _feel_ his heartbeat against her ear and counted down before Ino looked up at him in shock. Holding his breath for several seconds and he waited. Except she never lifted her head again, instead going back to sleep on Naruto. He rolled his eyes, just wonderful, exactly what he needed, she'd go to sleep again and forget he was here. She clung to his body like a monkey to a tree. Sakura stirred for a moment and rolled her face onto his chest. Oh god was that drool? He cringed silently, they were going to think he'd done something in the night. Sakura seemed to reach behind her and grab his wrist. 'Oh shit, she is waking up' He groaned mentally, until she simply rolled back into his chest with his arm now around her shoulders. Screaming into his mind he tried calling out mentally for Izuku, who sat and listened for a moment until. 

_'Not my problem'_

"Thanks bro," Naruto whispered, cursing his brother, he didn't even offer to send Katsuki or Sasuke for help. Even Itachi or Shisui would be useful, Tayuya would probably start a fight with them and Karin would lecture _him_ on being a pervert. Kurama was still laughing childishly at him the entire time. Some fucking chakra beast he was.

**'OI!'**

Naruto sighed and decided to take the only course of action that would give a result. Gently waking them up. "Sakura, Ino, please wake up, I'm not sure my arms can last much longer without blood," He shook them in his arms gently. "Come on guys, time to get up and have breakfast," Before he could speak further, Sakura had pointed a kunai at him.

"I have waited three years for this Uzumaki, I am sleeping,"

"No you're not," He whispered "Come on, we can make pancake-oof!" Ino was suddenly up with both hands planted on his chest.

"Pancakes? I'm in!"

"Yo did someone say pancakes?" Sasuke's voice echoed

"We making pancakes?!" Katsuki was up now,

"Pancakes?" Karin.

"Pancakes?! Hell yeah!" Tayuya, only Izuku would be asleep now, if he wasn't already awake training. The greenette never stopped. Honestly it was concerning at this point but Izuku never let them worry for too long. Sakura grumbled into his chest while the house began cheering for pancakes and waking up.

"Yamanaka," She drawled, Ino froze and looked at the pinkette, "You're luck I'm comfortable or I'd kill you,"

"No you wouldn't," Naruto interrupted, squeezing her closer to him, "Because if you would I'd've died a long, long time ago," The kunai ended up in the wall and her fingernails scraped his chest. He chuckeld nervously before Sakura smiled with thinly veiled fury at him.

"You're putting blueberries in mine right? Thanks," She kissed his cheek quickly before leaving the room with Ino, leaving a very red, very confused and _very_ aroused Naruto to sit in the bed, staring at the door.

"What?" His quiet voice could not oppose the screaming confusion in his head more.

When he reached the table he found it was more full than he expected, Kakashi was sat talking to the two elder Uchiha, the three Sannin were also laughing as they swapped stories of the last three years with Katuski, Tayuya, Ino and Sakura were welcoming Karin into the folds of mayhem planning a day of shopping and trouing the village and whatnot. Sasuke and Izuku were stood in the kitchen, the greenette loading the raven haired teen with plates stacked with pancakes. Sasuke smiled at Naruto as they passed in the doorway. Izuku quickly handing more plates to him. "You're welcome,"

"What?"

"I'm making the pancakes, I take it Sakura is expecting blueberries in hers this morning?"

"Dude, we got back yesterday, how are you already so,"

"No, you guys got back yesterday, technically I never left, even if it was just a Shadow Clone I was still here," Izuku expertly flipped another pancake into a stack, "If you are referring to the fact both Haruno and Yamanaka were in your bed this morning, it's because while you were gone we did some reorganizing, hence why Katsuki and I were in another room, or were you too busy panicking to notice?"

"Panicking," Naruto nodded, "So what, is it me and those two in the fourth room?"

"Close, 'Tachi and Shisui have managed to get their own apartment, next door actually, just space for them y'know? Kakashi bunks with them most nights since it's closer to Tsunade's office, Jiraiya and Orochimaru currently live with Tsunade, Katsuki and I moved into Sasuke's room so we've still got two spare rooms," The math definitely checked out. "And now with Karin living with us, the girl's would've had four in a room which would be too much space, so really the move about benefits everyone,"

"Except me," Naruto hissed as he stuck a plate to his forearm with chakra, perfectly balancing it. "I have those two bunking with me and they're going to kill me one morning when it,"

"Naruto, why do you think they agreed to the move?" Izuku interrupted "They could've easily just said no and left Karin and Tayuya to a fourth room," With that bombshell Izuku put another plate on Naruto's head and sent him out of the kitchen. People began swiping plates of pancakes from him and digging in before Izuku exited the kitchen and swiped the second to last plate from Naruto's head. The blond found himself sat at the head of the table with Izuku on his left and the girls on his right.

"Uh, why am I at the head?"

"You're the head of the clan Uzumaki-dono," Izuku teased,

"You mean Uzumaki- _sama_ ," Karin harshly corrected,

"No I meant dono because number one I've known my brother since before the academy and two, he hates being reffered to in any way other than Naruto," Izuku didn't even look away from his pancakes as he drowned them in syrup. "And anyway, you're head of the clan so you sit at the head of the table," A fork was waved around before stabbing pancakes.

"But I thought we,"

"In a sense, yes, we are both heads, because you are the head of the main branch or the bloodline branch, anyone that has Uzumaki blood or marries someone with Uzumaki blood falls under your jurisdiction, I'm head of the side branch, the adopted or halfblood branch, anyone tht doesn't display Uzumaki kekki genkai or chakra reserves falls under my jurisdiction, however you can override anything I say since you are the main big head, did I get all that right Tsunade?" The blond Sannin nodded with syrup drippling from her chin before wiping the back of her hand to get it.

"Sounded right, I can't get involved in the affairs unless you nivite,"

"Tsunade, no matter what, if you think I'm doing something wrong with the Uzumaki clan, please tell me," Naruto smiled "So long as I am head of the Uzumaki clan, Tsunade Senju, fifth Hokage can get involved with clan affairs when she deems it necassary," He attacked his pancakes quickly as to eat something before talking again. "So who is actually in the clan right now?"

"Well, currently, us, Katsuki, Tayuya and Karin, there most definitely will be more and I have no doubt Kumo will enjoy hearing the Uzumaki are rising again,"

"And this time in Konoha," Tsunade rubbed her temples, "Oh the paperwork," Her eyes flashed open, "Shit I forgot to wake up Shizune!"

"It is fine Hokage-sama," Shizune's voice caught everyone's attention, Izuku quietly got up and turned the stove back on, "I knew you would be early this morning so I set an alarm," An extra seat was added to the table and Shizune was welcomed warmly, she thanked Izuku for the plate before everyone began chatting again and the atmosphere was back to lively.

"Um, excuse me?" A new voice was at the door, "I was told by Orochimaru-sama to come here after he sent word Konoha was safe?" Naruto whipped his head around to see a grey haired boy with large glasses stood fidgeting at the door, "My name is Kabuto, I'm Orchimaru's assitant? He recently came back to the lab I was stationed in claiming everything was getting shut down and we needed to flee before Danzo got us, unfortunately I was seperated from the group when ROOT attacked us," The blond nodded and Jiraiya, Orochimaru and himself stood up walking over to Kabuto. "Orochimaru-sama,"

"Kabuto, open your mouth," The shinobi complied and opened his mouth, Orochimaru puleld the tongue out and lifted it up. There sat on the underside of his tongue was a ROOT marking. "Jiraiya?"

"Five minutes, Naruto, put him?" The blond grunted and was suddenly behind the ROOT agent, swiftly delivering a hand chop to the back of their neck. Kabuto crumpled as Orochimaru caught him.

"Take him upstairs, use my bedroom, if you need to tie him up I can grab you some rope,"

"Won't need it, he shouldn't wake up before I remove it," Jiraiya and Orochimaru both moved upstairs.

"So, did he really behave?" Tsunade seemed to ask nobody, but everyone knew she was talking to Izuku, who simply sighed.

"For the most part yes, he oggled and drooled and flirted but never touched, never went to the bathhouse, never tried to get a prostitute either," Everyone cringed at the last part. "As far as I am aware Jiraiya has been able to mend his attitude, as well as deal with several of his demons that instigated such behaviour as an outlet,"

"Alright I suppose I shall have to talk to him about what happens next, now thank you for the breakfast but Shizune and I must get to work, Konoha can't run itself,"

"The civilian council proved as much," Itachi added sighing heavily, "I suppose I shall come with you to see if there are any missions I can do for now, Shisui, can you please take that blindfold off now? They all know you took Izuku's eyes,"

"He what?" Sasuke almost choked,

"Now everyone knows," Itachi nodded before turning back towards Tsunade, "Shall we take our leave?" The three nodded and bid their farewells before leaving. Sasuke was still staring at Shisui in shock, "But you said,"

"I know what I said but without eyes I might as well be dead, it was only a year ago, I asked Tsunade to do it, we figured I'd just be left without the Sharingan, as it were the Primal chakra also had more influence this time too," Shisui took off the hitai-ate to reveal his emerald green eyes, Naruto nodded, following along so far until.

"Wait, WHAT THE FUCK?!" Sasuke and Naruto did a double take as Shisui's eyes turned into a complete _Sharingan,_ "You have the _Sharingan_ again?"

"Yes," Shisui nodded, "I'm not sure how things will progress, if I can ever get the _Eternal Mangekyou_ or even if I can get the _Mangekyou_ , however the fact I have the _Sharingan_ at all is a miracle," They all nodded in agreement, "Now I'd appreciate if this didn't go any further than the table, Kakashi, Ino, Tayuya," All three noddded in silent agreement.

"Awesome, now I have a few things to do around the house after breakfast, I believe you owe Katsuki a spar too Naruto, why don't you guys do that today? I'd be surprised if they allow you guys on missions after you got back so soon,"

"I suppose I'll got see if Itachi needs help on a mission or whatnot," Kakashi excused himself "Thank you for breakfast, Izuku if I could talk to you at some point today, even a Shadow Clone would do," The greenette nodded, "Wonderful, enjoy your days everyone," He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto skid along the surface of the water, grunting. Katsuki really didn't hold back. Both blonds were fighting with their all in the regular training ground. They stood opposite each other at one end of the river running through the area. Slowly they began movign towards the centre until both were running at high speeds. Naruto leant towards Katsuki, his path curving into the cliff. The red eyed teen smirked and slowed down for a second as Naruto began climbing the cliff. They were as fast as the other, clashing as they reached the top of the cliff. The sparring continued as both boys flew into the air. Katsuki kicked out with his left, Naruto raised his arm to absorb the impact, using it to rotate and aim to strike Katsuki's head. It was stopped by his hand and pushed away, Naruto aimed a punch but it was deflected with a back hand swipe. His palm struck Katsuki's fist down before it could land on his sternum. The two began falling and ran back down the cliff, occasionally clashing. Once they were on horizontal ground again Katsuki did some impressive gymnastics to put space between them. A bo-staff puffed into existence from a seal on the back of the boy's arm before it was snatched from the air. He spun the elongated stick before hopping into a stance. Naruto pulled out a scroll and soon held his own staff. They shared a moment of eye contact before charging each other. The wood met with a crack and the fighting began again each movement was creating an opening before trying to strike. Naruto swung it wide and let it bounce of Katsuki's defence. His hands released it for a moment as it spun around his neck and attacked Katsuki's other side. he grabbed it again and jabbed forwards, hopping on one foot. Once he'd forced Katsuki backwards, Naruto stabbed the end of his staff into the ground and kicked off, flipping over his blond brother. The staff stopped just shy of the boy's back. "I think that means I win,"

"You'd think wouldn't you?" His grunted and swept the staff under his shoulder, knocking Naruto's up. Now he was off balance Katsuki took the time to turn around and spin the staff around, perfoming serveral attacks in the mean time. Naruto managed to avoid or deflect most of them and charged his pole at Katsuki.

"Enough!" Both boys paused, their staffs inches from the other's neck. "Katsuki you're coming on in leaps and bounds, I thought it'd take a lot longer for you to get so skilled, Naruto," Izuku folded his arm, pking the inside of his cheek with his tongue, "You're still holding back,"

"I would've killed him," The greenette shrugged,

"Fair assessment, Katsuki don't take this as a loss or a pity victory, yours skills are lightyears beyond expectations and you should take pride in that," The red eyed boy stood up a bit straighter. "Now, you and I need to go brief Tsunade on the things our clones found, Naruto you've got some visitors," The sly grin Izuku gave before he and Katsuki disappeared wasn't helping Naruto's sudden nerves. Sakura and Ino began walking over to him, oh his nervers got worse, is this what a panic attack felt like.

"Uh, hey girls," His calm voice betrayed his overheating brain. "What, um, what can I er, what can I do for you?"

"Naruto," Sakura began, "I just, I wanted to say sorry for this morning, it's been a long time since I've slept as well as I did last night," She bowed, "I understand if you don't want us in the house," The blond stared at her before looking at Ino, who shrugged, his gaze back on Sakura and Naruto couldn't help the bubble of laughter that escaped his chest. Then again, and again, until he was fully laughing at the confused pair.

"Why would I ever want you guys out of the house? You pointed a kunai at me because I woke you up, sounds like a decent reaction to me," He sighed and continued "Look I don't know why you seemed to sleep better but,"

"It's because you're with us again," Ino interrupted, "I mean, we've missed you the last few years, we genuinely didn't know if you'd died or if you'd ever come back," Her lower lip quivered, "We're just, we're glad you're home," They both hugged him tightly.

"Hey, so, I think I'm about to make things awkward but um," He waved a finger between the three of him. "What is this? Us? You two?" Both girls flushed for a minute, he could almost see the steam leaving Sakura's ears, Ino just gaped before shaking her head.

"We, uh, we were, hoo, okay," Ino tried, "We, gah!" Covering her face with her hands Ino seemed to refuse to look at him. "I can't say it," She mumbled, "Sakura,"

"WHAT?! I CAN'T DO IT!" The two engaged in a silent contest of wills.

"Do what?" They froze as if they'd just remembered he was present. "Look just, say whatever it is quickly and I'll see if I under-,"

"Wewerehopingyou'dbeourboyfriend!" Sakura clamped a hand over her own mouth as her eyes widened, his brow furrowed.

"Our boyfriend?"

"We, spent a lot of time thinking about it, uh, oh Kami I can't believe I'm saying this to you," Ino had gone bright red, "We, figured instead of," She gulped "Of competing for you and driving ourselves apart again, we could, we uhh, we could....Share...You?" Naruto blinked, once, twice, Kurama gave him a bit of chakra and nope, definitely wasn't a genjutsu. Naruto gazed at both of them, but they refused to meet his eye, looking everywhere else.

"So, let me get this straight, I was gone three years, in that time you've rekindled your friendship?" They both nodded "Both decided you loved me?" Nods again, "And you discussed that instead of driving another wedge between you, you'd ask if I minded dating both of you?"

"We know it's sil-,"

"Yeah okay," He shrugged

"What?" Ino deadpanned, "You mean, just like that?"

"Yeah, I mean, you already sleep on me, live with me, I make you guys breakfast, take you out to dinner, I've been helping you cope when things got too much," Listing it off on his fingers he smiled "Shoot there's really not much we haven't done, Sakura kissed me this morning," The pinkette looked inches away from passing out. Ino had somehow gone even redder, now bordering on going scarlet. "Besides I get two beautiful girls to call mine and they're both okay with it?" They snapped back up to look at him in surprise, "What guy wouldn't want that?"

"You really think,"

"We're beautiful?" Naruto frowned,

"Why wouldn't,"

"We're kunoichi, we'll be covered in dirt and blood and sweat and bruises and,"

"And it sounds like all of that can be taken care of with a nice hot bath, besides, who cares? You could be covered head to toe in mud and I'd still say you were pretty,"

"Even with her inhumane strength and my, well, almost psychotic knowledge of torture?" Naruto laughed,

"That means you're both badass kunoichi and kickass women, makes it even better in my book!" Their eyes began watering as they smiled and jumped at him.

The three were walking back to the house together, Ino had taken his right hand while Sakura held his left. Something had been tugging at the back of his head so they decided to try and find Izuku to help. Naruto was also waiting for Kurama to wake up to see if he could identify the issue. The sun had almost finished setting when they reached the house. They walked in to see Shisui, Itachi, Izuku and Sasuke playing cards while Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Katsuki held their own game. The Sannin and Katsuki were complaining about ' _Sharingan_ users and their stupid bluff reading', gazing over Naruto found that yes, the dojutsu users in fact had their _Sharingans_ active while playing. Itachi spared him a glance and silently nudged Shisui under the table, nodding to the door. While Shisui was distracted Izuku leant round to read his cards. "So you finally did it," Shisui grinned "About time you asked him," Tsunade looked over too and smiled at the three. 

"Naruto, this goes without saying but," Her face became stern, "Don't hurt my students,"

"Hai, hai Tsunade," Naruto sighed, "Izuku are you done yet?"

"Almost, I raise you all ten thousand,"

"Fold," Itachi and Sasuke mumbled at once, putting their cards down on the table. Shisui grinned and looked at Izuku.

"Sorry little buddy," The cards were put face up proudly, "Straight flush with a King high," Naruto peered at the cards, a nine of diamonds, ten of diamonds and the three picture cards sat gazing at the ceiling. Izuku just sighed and went to put his cards down. With a smirk he flipped them over.

"Royal Flush in Spades, Ace high beats King high, read'em and weep sensei," Shisui slammed his hands down on the table and groaned staring at the cards in hatred. "What's up Naruto?" The greenette scooped the chips towards himself and began stacking them neatly.

"I've head this thing in the back of my head, pulling on my mind," Naruto let go of the girls' hands and waved a finger behind his head, "If it was a Raijin I'd recognize the chakra," Izuku hummed for a moment. Rubbing his chin he paused long enough to smack Sasuke's hand away from his pile of Ryo. 

"Have you spoken to Kurama?"

"He's not woken up yet, little fox needs his nap time,"

 **'Oi! I heard that!'** Naruto shook his head at Izuku.

'Then can you recognize the chakra that's trying to summon me?'

 **'What? Oh, yeah, that is Shukaku'** Naruto froze.

"Shit! Gaara!" Naruto ran over to Sasuke, "Tsunade get a squad to Suna asap, Sasuke, Izuku and I need to go rescue Gaara," The older blonde nodded as the boys disappeared in a flash of green and yellow light.

"Anyone gonna tell me who Gaara is?"

Gaara was unconscious on a table as the boys arrived, surprising a blond with a weird device over their right eye and a second redhead, both of which were dressed in black robes with red clouds dotted over them, "Hi," Naruto punched the blond away, "I'd really appreciate if you didn't hurt my friend," Quickly taking in their surroundings revealed they were in a sort of cave. "Sasuke, can you use Susan'oo?"

"Only the ribs really, I need to build up chakra to put into it,"

"That's fine, if this place collapses, get Gaara underneath it," Izuku nodded, he was alread yin his ANBU gear, the mask over his face. "Fox, remember codenames, Raven, keep close to red, this is Deidara and Sasori, rouge nin, Stone and Sand, in that order," Naruto looked down to see he was now clad in the same ANBU gear as Izuku, looking over to Sasuek revealed he was dressed the same too. "Fox, did you hear me?"

"Keep close to Sasori, Deidara specializes in explosives and he can't explode us without exploding puppet master, the hard part is keeping away from the puppets at close range," Sasori pulled out a scroll and a thousand puppets were suddenly behind him, connected to his fingertips by almost invisibly thin, sky blue strings. Chakra threads.

"Change of plans, stick with Deidara, I'll cut Sasori loose, be on guard there may be backup nearby," Sasuke and Naruto nodded, Izuku charged forwards as he drew his tanto, the blade starting to glow light blue. Naruto grinned as he focused on Deidara. The rogue-nin was cackling madly about making new art while throwing explosive clay at the dup. "Sasuke, how do we want to do this? Incapacitate or decapitate?"

"Well, Izuku didn't specify, but I'd like to test my kenjutsu, Orochimaru taught me well," The ravenette grinned as he drew the tanto, "It's smaller than I'm used to but it should work," Naruto drew his own and smiled, "Plus Izuku taught me the Flying Raijin, I can't use it as often as you two but I should manage this battle,"

"Your forte is Genjutsu so a Time-Space jutsu will destroy your reserves,"

"OI! I'm still here bastards!" Deidara shouted angrily "Don't ignore me, assholes,"

"Language," Both boys snapped, "By all means," Naruto swept an arm forwards, "Lead the way," Sasuke shimmered and was running straight at Deidara, who threw small white creatures at him. Naruto was i nfront of him in a second, matching his pace and swiping to catch the clay, disappearing to a nearby kunai and throwing them back at Deidara. As his hand made the sign the clay exploded around him.

"Motherfucker!" Deidara gave Naruto his attention, a mistake he quickly rectified dodging the silver swipe of a blade. The rogue was now on the defensive, trying to throw any explosives he head at the Uchiha, which Naruto would Raijin away. It quickly became a game of cat and mouse, with Deidara constantly on the back foot, avoiding every swipe and stab Sasuke launched by merely millimetres. Eventually Deidara reached into a pouch and molded two large handfuls of clay together. Sasuke closed in yet again as Deidara winded back to throw the clay. Naruto warped in again and planted a hand on Deidara's chest instead of grabbing the putty. The _Sharingan_ user noticed the movements immediately and put space between himself and the blonds. Deidara laughed as he threw the igniting clay towards Sasuke and turned to watch Sasori and Izuku fight. He froze when he felt something tap his shoulder.

"I think this is yours," Naruto dropped the clay at his feet before retrating to Sasuke.

"Oh fu-!" The rogue blond was cut off as an explosion sent him to the ceiling of the cave in seconds and then fell straight back to the floor. Naruto walked over quickly and gently searched for a pulse. Sasuke looked over at him and he shook his head. Deidara was dead. They began sealing away the body and watched as Sasori fought Izuku, the pair were surrounded by limp puppets, the redhead looking livid as Izuku kept sliving through the chakra strings with his tanto. Sasori was using his puppets carefully, hit and run tactisc of failing to land attacks and retreating faster than they charged. Izuku deftly dodged the attacks and pulled out his own scroll.

"Puppet style: Silent army!" Izuku put away his sword as chakra strings stretched from his fingers tips, connecting to a hundred different puppets floating in the air. "A puppet master in Suna taught me everything he could and then let me go through their catacombs, you were quite the spectacle Akasuna no Sasori," Izuku's fingers began weaving intricately as he conversed with the rogue nin, "Twenty years ago you departed from Sunagakureon a mission to create something that exists forever, you turned your own body into a puppet to use with a core retaining the last of your humanity, allowing you to live on in the body, your other body Hiruko, was destroyed in your confrontatioin with Gaara when your overconfidence in the defensive ability of the body caused it to be crushed in a Sand Burial, my clones learned everything there is to know from Suna before dispelling the day before yesterday," Izuku smirked at puppets tore each other apart. Suddenly Sasori's puppets dropped to the floor as the redhead's arms went limp. Izuku turned into a puff of smoke, revealing it had been a Shadow Clone for a time. The real Izuku was stood in Sasori's shadow, his tanto piercing through Sasori and coming out the front of his cloak. "And I will use all of my knowledge to defeat those that threaten my family," The sword was dragged back with a high pitched whine before the greenette expertly swung it around in his hand and put it away. Izuku then pulled the cloak away to reveal that, yes, Sasori's body was a puppet and his tanto had speared the core in the centre of the chest. Naruto and Sasuke began to walk over as he removed the core. "I suppose it'd make a nice gift for Kankuro, he is technically the best puppet master in Suna now," The body was sealed into a scroll and he made a single hand movement. All three boys were suddenly back in their regular clothing. Gaara shortly began stiring before looking around.

"Naruto?" The redhead sat up slowly, "What happened?"

"As far as we know Sasori and Deidara were able to kidnap you from Suna in the night before Shukaku could send out chakra via the Flying Raijin marker in your seal, after a time Naruto and Kurama were able to figure out it was Shukaku's and that the pair of you were in trouble, the cloak around," Izuku turned to where Deidara had been before coughing into his fist, "The remains of the cloak from Deidara's corpse show that they were both part of the Akatsuki and most likely after Shukaku, and probably planning on killing you in the process of extracting him," With the direct explanation aside Izuku smiled reassuringly.

"And we showed up to save you! It was awesome y'know!" Naruto beamed. Gaara shook his head and smiled,

"I am truly blessed to have brothers like you looking out for me, Father sent word immediately then?"

"Dude were you not listening?" The blond shook his head, "Bro, Shukaku pushed some chakra into the Flying Raijin part of the jutsu to let us know you were in danger, your fastest shinobi probably haven't even made it halfway yet," Naruto smirked widely, "C'mon let's get you home,"

"Which way is home exactly?"

"Don't worry, I had my clone place a marker in your dad's office remember?" Izuku grabbed Sasuke and Gaara while Naruto just put a hand on his shoulder. The four disappeared in a flicker of green light.

"SWEET KAMI!" The Kazekage cried as he leapt from his desk, immediately Suna ANBU were ready to attack. Upon recognizing Izuku and Gaara all stood down and relazed though. NAruto grinned and raised a hand.

"Hiya Kazekage-sama, you lose this?" He patted Gaara on the head. The Kazekage simply gazed.

"To think Tsunade was able to send aid so,"

"Tsunade didn't send aid, hell I don't even think she got the message yet," Izuku hummed casually.

"Then how?" Izuku walked over to Gaara and lifted up the teen's shirt,

"Here," He pointed into the seal, "When we restructed Gaara seal we also added the technique formula for our Flying Raijin jutsus, once he was taken and rendered unconscious, Shukaku pushed Tailed beast chakra into the seal, notifying us that Gaara was in trouble, we were by his side by the time your messenger would've gotten halfway to the border,"

"You marked my son?"

"I told you we had plans in case events such as this one happened, I asked for you to place your trust in my judgement and that it would be proven if the time ever unfortunately came," Izuku rationalized to the Kazekage "I have applied a formula to each Jinchuuriki I have come across, if at any point they ever needed my help, I have been there, so far I saved Fu of Takigakure, aided Yagura Karatachi and rescued Han of Iwagakure, as well as recently rescue Gaara Uzumaki of the Uzumaki Suna branch house,"

"Dad? We heard yelling?" Izuku lifted a finger as if suddenly remembering something.

"Come in guys, it's just Izuku, Naruto and Sasuke, they already got Gaara back," The older Sand Siblings burst into the room.

"Gaara?!" Temari immediately took up her younger brother in a bone crushing hug. "Kami we were so worried about you!" Izuku tapped Naruto's shoulder and took a seal before he walked over to the Kazekage's desk.

"The rogues that took him were part of the Akatsuki, rogues Deidara of Iwakagure," The body was unsealed on the floor. "And puppet master Subaku no Sasori of Sunakagure," The puppet body was unsealed on the desk of the Kazekage. "Konoha shinobi Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were able to work together to defeat Deidara while I took down Sasori alone using the puppetry skills taught to me by Kankuro, that being said, here you go," Izuku handed the body to Kankuro "As thanks for teaching me all the skills to bring him down, I have already destroyed the core, so there is no need to fear it coming back, nor his soul being reanimated," Izuku smiled as Kankuro gazed at the body, "Good luck mastering it, sensei,"

"Alright boys, you can go home, I shall send another messenger to tell Tsunade to stand down,"

"Oh, actually, just a second," Izuku disappeared and reappeared holding a very confused Suna shinobi by the shoulder.

"Kazekage-sama? I just arrived in Konoha and was briefin Lady Hokage," They looked around the room to see Gaara sat in a chair, smiling and waving. "Kami they work fast,"

"No, the three boys here were able to react faster than us, they knew he was in trouble before you met the border and then rescued him before you could get to Konoha, Uzumaki Izuku here just saved you the return trip of what is now a moot mission,"

"If I may Kazekage-sama," Izuku stepped forward again, "I have a suggestion that could benfit both of our villages,"

* * *

Itsuka crept along the shadows. It was late at night and her dark clothing helped her remain hidden. Who was she tailing? A group of criminals that seemed to be dealing in various drugs. Should she be doing it? No she's sixteen and hoping to get into UA university, but can she do it? Absolutely, these wimps had barely dangerous quirks. "You guys suck at sneaking around," A voice made all five inhabitants of the alleyway jump, "Including you Miss Kendou," Crap someone knew her, but who? Actually, nevermind, she now had four criminals staring at her ready to kill. Her knees began wobbling at the amount of murderous intent the criminals leaked towards her. "Wow, that really all you guys got?" The voice seemed disappointed, suddenly one of the four collapsed, fainted from what appeared to be fear as a further two fell to their knees and began throwing up. The last criminal waved their hand around wildly, pieces of metal flying around them trying to find the source of the voice. There was a sudden breeze down the alley as a figure appeared behind them. "Boo," They whispered, the woman screamed and turned around, only to fall flat on their back from a punch directly to the face. The two throwing up were knocked out by swift kicks to the temple. A second figure appeared in a puff of smoke and began tying up the criminals while the original moved towards Itsuka.

"W-who are you?"

"Irrelevant, I don't exist here, technically," Itsuka opened her mouth to talk, "No records of birth, death, criminal charges, jobs, bank accounts, addresses or otherwise," Arms were raised from a cloak placatingly, "And I also mean you no harm,"

"But you,"

"I incapacitated foes you greivously underestimated that surely would've killed you without hesitation, mercy, remorse or difficulty," She grabbed the wrists of the stranger and pushed them against the wall, pinning the mysterious person. "My my, so forward, at least buy me dinner before pinning me down," Ignoring her rising blush Itsuka glared at the finger,

"Who are you?" She was suddenly holding a trashbad as the figure put a hand on her shoulder.

"No-one of consequence, just a passerby that saw you were about to do something incredibly stupid, your outing last night ended in disaster and I wanted to make sure you made it home alive this time,"

"Y-you," She turned around and began going pale.

"Know where you live? Yeah, because as I just said you suck at sneaking around," The figure moved their hands back into the cloak, "But I mean no harm, I will do nothing with the information, I merely needed it to make sure you were safe tonight," She was suddenly in a bridal carry as the figure walked up the wall.

"How are you,"

"Trade secret, but I'll give you a hint, same way I made the clone,"

"Multiple quirks?"

"Nah, cop a feel, it'll confuse you even more," She looked down to the chest she was resting against, shyly resting a hand against it. As she explored the muscle hidden under the thin clothing she inhaled softly, almost unaware of the fact they were currently leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

"Male?" She had never met, never _seen_ one before, not even in books or on social media.

"And I believe this is your stop," They landed on the wall next to Itsuka's bedroom window, her _open_ bedroom window. Then in a blink, she was stood inside of her bedroom, having gone through a window that was clearly too small to fit them both through. The figure laid her on her bed and seemed to pause, before softly exhaling from their nose. "I know you won't stop your little escapades, so here," A small knife like weapon was put on her desk, "Try and activate your quirk on it and I'll be able to come help you if you need it, and please, for the love of Kami," (The fuck's a kami?) "Do not prevent your pride from calling for help," ~~They~~ _He_ turned to leave, Itsuka scrambled up quickly and grabbed their sleeve.

"Will you really come and help me?" She whispered softly.

"If I believe you need it, you are strong willed Itsuka Kendou, it is a shame your body can not match your mind,"

"Can I ever see you again?" Already he had left an impression on the ginger teen.

"I will answer your call if you truly want it," He spoke cryptically.

"And how will you know?"

"Because the summon will be stronger," A heavy pause "You should rest now, tonight will shake rattle your nerves," Itsuka mumbled something barely loud enough for him to stop and chuckle silently. A second popped into existence as the first disappeared in a draft and several green leaves. "If you need me to stay until you fall asleep," The man spoke quietly as he pulled her chair from her desk. "Then I will,"

"And you have no name for me to call you?" Itsuka yawned as she hid below her covers. He pndered for a moment before whispering.

"For now, you can just call me Kage," His arms were folded as he crossed his feet. Itsuka smiled as she felt warmth radiate from her room as she felt _safety_ leak from Kage as he guarded her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I appreciate I'm kinda centering things around 'Midorikage' in Musutafu but I have reasons for it. I'll mix it up soon I promise. Just trust me?  
> Once again gotta say thanks for the support.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	18. Minus two that's five!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hidan and Kakuzu.  
> Need I say more?
> 
> "RASEN-..."

Tsunade nodded slowly. "On paper it sounds like a great idea," They were all gathered in her office, Naruto, Izuku, Hiashi, Tsunade (obviously) and even the Kazekage after a quick Raijin by Izuku. It had taken a few days of organizing and deliberating, especially with the Hyuugas to make the meeting happen. Now however, things were going almost perfectly.

"I mean, the people of Suna are all for it, having a member of the Hyuuga clan, not to mention the heiress herself guard Gaara? Temari is already getting ready to pack," The Kazekage shrugged "It did not take much deliberation,"

"While the benefits to both villages is quite incredible," Hiashi bowed his head, "I don't see why we must send Hinata, Neji or Hinabi would be better choices,"

"Hyuuga-sama," Izuku opens diplomatically, "The reason those Kumo nin came those years ago, was because Hinata in the heiress, they knew she would give them Byakugan wielders, as it stands the attack could happen again, of course we would all put a stop to it instantly, however if we were to make the diplomatic swap, we would have one of the Kazekage's children aiding our ranks, teaching them things we have yet to learn, while Hinata has the protection of Sunakagure and Shukaku's Jinchuuriki Gaara Uzumaki,"

"He is also Uzumaki?"

"Sunakagure does not put emphasis on clans within our borders, here it is your skill that earns you respect, not a family name," The Kazekage admitted "Gaara becoming an Uzumaki was of no consequence and with a bigger family he is better protected from both external and internal threats, should his demons come back to haunt him," Hiashi nodded again. "I understand as a father you are protective of your daughter and as a leader you worry for your people, however if Hinata was to come here, she would be welcomed with open arms and respected amongst our forces, if only because she is one of few able to pass Gaara's impenetrable guard, only myself a few others have ever been able to do it, and yet Hinata is able to do it regularly," Hiashi's eyes widened in surprise. "Even Uzumaki Izuku had difficulty doing it more than twice in a row," Naruto nodded, he knew how hard it was to break through the sand defence.

"I-if I may father," Hinata spoke quietly from her father's side. "Being able to strengthen the bonds between our villages and being able to share knowledge with Suna-nin seems like a worthy reason to trade, I am quite honoured that I was the first choice,"

"It was only logical," Izuku called out, "When combing the three-sixty enhanced vision with Gaara's defence, the two of you would become a moutain to move for anyone attacking from any range, the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists that Neji, yourself and I developed, combined again with the absolute defence of Gaara's sand control, means you have almost insurmountable offence and defense,"

"You and Neji developed a technique together?" Hiashi turned to his daughter.

"A-after hearing what Naruto, I-I-Izuku and Sasuke were doing with t-the Rasengan, I could h-hardly sit by and watch them ch-charge ahead without me," The Hyuuga head rounded to the green Uzumaki.

"And you swear there are things we can learn from Suna we have yet to learn ourselves?"

"With Temari as a member of our forces we can also have Kankuro as an aide to diplomatic missions, he could teach puppetry to our own forces, Temari would be able to teach Konoha how to use weapons such as the fan blade she uses,"

"Alright, it was also mentioned that there would be a second sent with Hinata?"

"Yes, I wish to send Karin Uzumaki,"

"She is not,"

"I understand she is not a full chuunin of Konoha, yet she is a ward of the Uzumaki clan, which now has a branch house in Suna, after meeting Chiyo on my travels I discovered that Suna's medical corp and all around knowledge of medical ninjutsu is severely lacking and while I taught them as much fuinjutsu as possible I was still learning medical ninjutsu on my travels, therefore I feel that sending Karin will work twofold," Izuku held up two fingers "Number one, she will advance Suna's medical knowledge and allow it to make great strides in medical abilities, possibly even using our team style of having a med-nin as a full member of each team, and number two, upon improving Suna's knowledge, she will also confirm her allegiance to the Uzumaki clan and thussly Konoha and Suna alike," Everyone else stared in silence as the Kazekage whisled.

"Remind me again why you did not wish to become an aid of the Hokage?"

"I don't like paperwork," Izuku shrugged, much to the humour of Hiashi and the Kazekage. Both of whom chuckled mildly before the head of Sunagakure continued.

"Both guests will be residing in the Kazekage estate of course, under the further protection of our ANBU, where would Temari be staying?"

"With the Uzumaki's," Tsunade shook her head, "Honestly at this point their house is more protected than my own, with two Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake next door, Uchiha Sasuke residing with Uzumaki Izuku, Naruto, Tayuya, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino and all three Sannin often visiting, you'd be hard pressed to find a place with more A and above class ninja in one space at one time, in the Land of Fire,"

"Or the Land of Wind," The Kazekage admitted, "The headquarters for ANBU don't have that many people in it for more than five minutes, not to mention these boys have now defeated three of the Akatsuki members, honestly when Izuku would study under me the ANBU took it as time off, even in my office Izuku would be the only one in the room," A gentle laugh. Naruto felt somethign in the back of his head and coughed,

"Apologies everyone, I have to go and deal with a pressing matter," He gave a grave look to Tsunade, "It appears team ten found some rather unsavory rogues," She nodded as he disappeared in a flash of yellow. Everyone looked at Izuku.

"What? He can handle himself,"

At Ino's side he stepped forward, pushing the blonde back and down, out of the way from a scythe. His hair brushed against the blade before his fist dug into the gut of the attacker. The earth was torn up as they slid back on their heels. "Hoho? Another sacrifice for Lord Jashin?" The rogue had slicked back grey hair, wore the Akatsuki robe, opened enough to reveal no undershirt with grey pants.

"Who now?" Naruto stood up straight, eyeing the man, "You aren't referring to yourself in the third person right?" The figure seemed to seeth.

"No, I am Hidan and you're going to die painfully for not knowing of Lord Jashin!" They charged at him,

"Oh, it's a religion," He flickered behind Hidan and rubbed his chin, "Alright well, you do you, I personally don't believe in anything except the sage of six paths,"

"You heretic! I shall destroy you entirely, as is Jashin's will!" Hidan frothed at the mouth turning back to Naruto, one look into his eyes told the blond everything. Hidan was insane, completely and utterly.

"Alright well, uh, no thanks," Naruto threw several kunai towards Hidan, who raised his scythe to deflect them. Naruto returned to Ino and silently attacked HIdan's exposed back, driving a kunai into the man's heart. Jumping away he pushed the body to the floor and ran over to Ino, "Are you alright babe?"

"Babe?" She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him

"What don't like it?" He offered a hand to help her to her feet.

"Love it babe," As they got ready to leave they heard a low growl.

"That hurt bastard," They froze and turned around to see Hidan getting to his feet, reaching around with his arm to pull the kunai from his back. "What you thought stabbing me would kil me? ME? Immortal servant of Lord Jashin?" Naruto closed his eyes, throwing a kunai out of the field. "Now I'll destroy you both!"

"YOU TWO, LOOK OUT!" Asuma Sarutobi suddenly charged into the fray, intent on pushing Ino and Naruto out of the way, the jinchuuriki however, had other plans, cursing as he grabbed hold of both ninja and disappearing to his thrown kunai. They crashed uncerimoniously to the floor hidden by trees. "Naruto, what did?"

"We moved with my Flying Raijin, who is that guy?"

"Missing S class nin Hidan, he's someone gained immortality from a ritual sacrifice, it gives him the ability to activate an array of voodoo style jutsu," Asuma clutched his left arm, "Bastard got me when I got confident, luckily Ino helped enough to throw off the attack that would've killed me and took his attention, whatever he was doing was undone after Ino transfered her mind to him, I still don't know how he did it," Naruto frowned and thought for a minute.

"We can't kill him by regular means, but I'm guessing his wounds still need time to heal," His mind reached out for answers, "What if we cauterize the wounds before he can heal from them? Asuma-sensei, if I take his arm off, could you use fire style to burn it and stop the arm from growing back?" The jounin blinked at him before nodding.

"It could work, the problem is getting close enough, with his scythe he just swings when you're in range, too far in and you're gonna get sidelined instantly,"

"Alright well, let's see how Ino and I fare getting close and if we can't give you an opening for five minutes, we'll think of something else?" Asuma looked out at Hidan for a moment.

"Just, watch out, can you put a marker on me for now?" Naruto nodded and the two clasped hands. "When either of you are about to get cut, get out to me, punches and kicks don't seem to do anything," Naruto nodded and turned to Ino, who frowned at him.

"You will Raijin out right?"

"Of course,"

"Good, be careful," She kissed his cheek before they ran back towards the psychopath.

He stopped running and pulled his gut back, barely avoiding getting his side impaled. "We could really do with that opening!" Asuma yelled as he tried another hit and run, being forced to retreat yet again as Hidan used the end of his scythe's handle to stab the jounin.

"Working on it!" Naruto snapped, "Motherfucker,"

"Language!" Ino and he cried interrupting his speech, "is too randomized and wild, he's just swining with intent to draw blood, makes it infinitely harder to deflect in a way that won't just curve back around on me!"

"There is no order to complete annihilation!" He cried proudly as he twirled yet again, swining his scythe in a wide circle. Naruto was getting sick of him quickly, holding out his hands he created an army of Shadow Clones that just kept charging. Hidan cackled madly as he dispelled each one. The blond twitched with each death of a Shadow Clone, they weren't there to over power him, they were there to analyze. Hidan's scythe was on a coil, that moved up his sleeve, swinging his arm, he'd let go of the handle and flip over it. Originally it just seemed like fancy handwork and gymnastics, but in truth Hidan would flick his wrist and cause the scythe to twist around for him to catch it. Analysis revealed that Hidan's fighting style, whatever is was, was dependant on that coil, almost every other movement required to coil to bring the scythe back or prevent it from falling from Hidan's hand. If only he could get close enough to cut it, then the battle would turn in their favor. 

"Asuma, Ino, on me for a second," The three retreated out of Hidan's reach. "There's a coil, going up his sleeve, he relies on it, we take it out he'll lose the scythe,"

"I'll give you an opening to get him," Asuma grunted,

"I could use,"

"We damage the body while you're in there and you might not find your way back to your body, no chance," Naruto shook his head, "Whatever you're planning Asuma, you better not die,"

"Is that an order?"

"Asuma Sarutobi, before I left, I spoke with Hiruzen, I told him that he'd better be alive when I come back why? Because I did not give him permission to die on me, I now extend that to you, you do not have my permission to die and if you do I will revive you and kill you again myself," Asuma laughed,

"Alright, let's do it then," The elder shinobi charged ahead first, Ino following him and Naruto behind her. They watched Asuma get blown to the side, blood splattering in the air before Ino flipped over Hidan and sliced the cord running from his sleeve. The rogue-nin suddenly fumbled with his weapon and Naruto struck him in the stomach yet again. The blond growled and kept striking the rogue in rapid succession, without the cord to hold his scythe Hidan was suddenly a lot less wild than before, swinging with both hands and using more basic moves than before. A bo-staff stopped his next attack as the curved bladessat behind Naruto's head. Hidan glared with barely concealed fear as Naruto growled ferally.

"Only fools claim to be masters while using training equipment," The scythe was shrugged off and Naruto jabbed his chest. The staff was swung upwards and collided with his chin before strikign his chest again, thoroughly winding the man. A Shadow Clone appeared and sliced off Hidan's arm at the bicep, the man yelled in pain before Naruto put his fingers below his lips and blew a stream of fire towards the stump, ceasing any bleeding immediately. He glared at his now sealed wound before facing Naruto.

"I'LL DESTROY ALL OF YOU,"

"Oh shut up!" Naruto swung powerfully with his staff and it collided with Hidan's temple, making the man crumple in a second, "You talk too much,"

"ASUMA SENSEI!" Ino's voice called him back to his wounded team mate. Both ran over to his side in moments, Naruto assessed the damage quickly. There was a nasty gash in the man's ribs that seemed to need the most attention. Ino had her hands to it immediately and they began glowing softly green. "Come on Asuma sensei, just hold on please," She begged him. Naruto knelt by the man and looked at his face. The Jounin was definitely unconscious but judinging from the wound and the colour of his face, he wasn't in imediate danger of dying.

"He'll hold out long enough to get him to a hospital,"

"But we,"

"Raijin remember?" A Shadow Clone appeared and disappeared in a flash of yellow. "I'll stay on guard and try restraining Hidan, you focus on healing Asuma," NAruto turned around the the still body and pulled out rope, frowning heavily. "You are not going anywhere ever again, oh mighty immortal," The single hand was bound to both ankles and the fingers tied together. He held the man in one hand and sent him away with a flash of yellow. "You better appreciate it Tsunade," He growled as memories moved into his head. "Ino, get ready, we're dropping off Asuma and then getting Shikamaru and Choji," Lifting up the injured captain Naruto felt Ino hold his shoulder with one hand. They appeared in the hospital room next to Tsunade, the clone saluted and puffed into smoke. Naruto laid Asuma on the hospital bed gently. "He got struck with a scythe, I sent it with the body of the rogue to your office, the guy claims to be immortal and try as I might, nothing lethal actually killed him," 

"He'll be a lovely present for T and I," Tsunade nodded as she began assessing the damage. "Ino, did you try and heal him?"

"Yes sensei," 

"Well you did a good job, but the attack punctured his lung, on top of that he's also had heavy chakra exhasution and high blood loss, while he'll live, I doubt we'll see him wake up in the week," Naruto nodded slowly, "But he will wake up, that much I can promise,"

"Good, we need to go and help Shikamaru and Choji now," Naruto grabbed Ino and they disappeared again. Cursing himself for not marking Shikamaru they reappeared by the first kunai he'd thrown before Asuma leapt in. "Do you know which way they went?"

"Um, Shikamaru said about moving their enemy to the Forest of Dead Trees," 

"Wonderful, I know where that is, come on, we should get moving!"

They burst into the battlefield and landed by their friends. Shikamaru was on one knee, dressing a wound to his left arm. Choji hunched over, breathing heavy with multiple wounds decorating his body. "Guys!"

"We're, nggh, we're okay," Shikamaru groaned "Whoever he is, he refuses to go down,"

"What do you mean he refuses to go down?" Ino began healing Choji, who just grunted.

"We stabbed him in the chest, sliced his neck, stabbed his head, cut every artery we can think of but he just doesn't die!"

"Another one working for Lord Jashin?"

"You think I would follow that lunatic? No, I am simply a god to you people and you are nothing to a god!" The man laughed, Naruto stared at the man and growled.

"Well, let's just see how long you last mighty one," A Shadow Clone army charged him, he needed to analyse this one quicker than Hidan, he seemed less psychotic but even more dangerous, looking at Shikamaru and Choij. There didn't seem to be any weaknesses, the Akatsuki cloak around his body was in tatters and then quickly ripped off from the sheer volume of attacks coming from the clones. Naurto's glare hardened as he kept getting information, four masks on his back, each of a different shape with different colour markings. Red, light blue, dark blue and yellow. They were attached to his back, so they had to be important. A clone snuck around the rouge as his attention was on the massive onslaught of ever coming Shadow Clones. A kunai sailed silently through the air and impaled the dark blue marked mask. It shattered into pieces and the rogue roared in a mixture of pain and anger. "Weakness, on his back," The rouge ninja began moving and the masks seemed to peel from his back. "Ah, okay that's irritating," Izuku appeared by his side in a second,

"You took down Hidan? Do you have any idea how stupid that is?"

"You fought him before?"

"To a standstill yes, I could never kill him or," Izuku turned to the rogue ninja, "Kakuzu, of course you'd be here as well, the zombo combo goes everywhere together,"

"Zombo combo?"

"Both of them are unkillable by normal means, Hidan did his sacrifice thing to survive getting killed but he will die if left unfed, Kakuzu however is more of a pain, in each of his masks is a heart he ripped from a living person's chest, feeding them to the masks extends his lifespan, they went after Yugito Nii and Fu, luckily I was able to help both but I still couldn't kill either of them,"

"Brat, you're here again, finally I get to kill you," Kakuzu growled Izuku's face darkened,

"Naruto, do you think you can kill him?"

"Uh, maybe? can we destroy the masks and I'll get back to you on that one?" They watched as Kakuzu's body began falling apart, grey tendrils writhing between the segments until Kakuzu became a mass of tendrils will parts of his body thrown around it.

"Ugh I'm gonna hurl," Ino held her stomach, "Oh god that's just disgusting," Izuku groaned.

"Okay, Naruto, you're going to fight him, Ino is going to heal Choji and Shikamaru, I'll cover her so just focus on taking him down,"

"Why can't you?"

"Because I won't win, both times I fought this guy we end up in a standstill and both sides retreat, if he retreats now he could rescue Hidan in future, that's not somethign we want now," The blond nodded in understand and got to work, the fight mainly consisted of him avoiding attacks while throwing kunai and various jutsu at him. 

"Fire style, Great Flame Dragon jutsu," A massive orange dragon formed from the flames coming from his mouth, he quickly weaved more signs. "Wind style Roaring Wind Dragon jutsu," A second dragon formed, so pale it was almost invisible. The two dragons swirled around each other and began to combine into an even larger dragon. "Wind and Fire combo, Great Roaring Dragon jutsu!" The enormous dragon swirled and struck Kakuzu,

"Naruto!" Izuku called out "If you can try and sever whatever these threads are! They seem to heal him whenever we damage him!" Naruto rolled his eyes, another thing to try and do. He leapt over a spear of tendrils and rolled along the floor. He had a jutsu, well he and Izuku had a jutsu that might be able to help. "Izuku, I need help with the,"

"LITTLE BUSY!" He yelled back as he deftly deflected all the tendrils that tried to attack Ino. "You're going to have to do it on your own!"

"But I can't do both at once! I need a second set of hands!"

"And you've got them!" Naruto froze for a second, no, it couldn't be that simple could it? The answer can't have been staring him in the face the entire time, Naruto isn't the best but even he can't be that bad right? Right? A Shadow Clone appeared by his side as a Rasengan formed in his hand. A small breeze began swirling around the blue orb, slowly getting faster and faster until it whined. The clone dispelled and Naruto lifted it above his head now an invisible four pointed blade spun around the Rasengan. "Atta boy!" Izuku cheered, still fighting off the tendrils. Naruto charged forwards, holding the new jutsu in front of him, it sliced the tendrils without slowling down. He planted it firmly into Kakuzu's gut.

"RASEN-SHURIKEN!" He yelled, letting the orb go. It continued to swirl, taking Kakuzu away with it. The two began to rise in the air, the Rasen-shuriken leaving small vapor trails until it exploded in the sky. Naruto covered his eyes with a hand as the blue orb became hard to look at. The hand he'd held the jutsu in both ached and had pins and needls travelling up his arm. Kakuzu's body fell to the ground, where it crashed in a cloud of dust and laid, unmoving. "And that deals with that," Naruto pouted and turned his head away.

"Alright tough guy," Izuku walked past him and began sealing the body away. "Go see your girlfriend before she freaks out," Naruto turned and ran over to the blonde, who was helping Shikamaru to his feet.

"You guys alright?"

"We are now, thanks to Ino," Choji grinned, "How's Asuma sensei?"

"He lived but he's comatose right now," Naruto shook his head, "Tsunade knows he will wake up, but she doesn't know when," Shikamaru sighed,

"At least that's something, alright, we'll go with Izuku to fill in Tsunade, you two go and rest up, you've just fought two more Akatsuki members," Naruto nodded, feeling the chakra drain from all the Shadow Clones, normally it's not that bad but after creating a couple thousand of them in such a short time, he was really feeling the burn, and that was saying something.

"God I must've made like a million of them," He yawned, "Need to work on that," Ino stood by his side.

"C'mon think you can manage one more jump home?" Her hand grabbed his.

"Easy peasy," The two groups disapeared in flashed of light.

"Oh so you met Kakuzu and Hidan?" Itachi was busy helping Izuku cook, "I take it things didn't go well,"

"I took of of Hidan's arms permanently and killed Kakuzu with a new jutsu, but Asuma did get put into a coma so I guess it kinda cancels the win out," Itachi nodded slowly as Naruto leant on the counter, watching the duo.

"At least you only suffered one injury instead of a casualty, the Akatsuki now have seven losses, with Orochimaru and myself included, you took out Juzo, Deidara, Sasori,"

"Add the two more ad we're at five deaths, two defections," Naruto grinned "Man we are tearing through their ranks,"

"I wouldn't push it Naruto, right now Jiraiya and Orochimaru are on a mission to Rain to see if they can find the leader, for all we know those guys aren't going to come quietly, we may lose a lot of battles soon, Izuku can you pass me the salt?"

"While there are many battles to come, I spent the last three years personally training with the group known as the Konoha twelve, meaning Guy's team, Squad seven, team eight and team ten," Izuku added as he passed along a container, "Plus I helped Tsunade fix the academy system, it's going to be a lot more rigorous and give us a lot more qualified shinobi in our forces, even if they start as civilian families," His hands scooped up diced chicken, dropping it into the pot Itachi was stirring, "And then you add the might of the Uzumaki clan, working alongside the other clans of the village, myself and Katsuki are walking armouries in our own right,"

"We do have a pretty strong force," Shisui admitted from the main room as he, Katsuki, Sakura and Ino played cards "But look at how well it went while Danzo was around, Katsuki, any eights?"

"Go fish, but Danzo and the elders that thought like Danzo aren't here anymore, not to mention the fact that Izuku and Naruto single handedly managed to strong arm Third into facing his mistakes, got Fifth to take the damn hat and learned everything Fourth did, I'd be surprised if they weren't consulted to help pick the sixth,"

"Like Tsunade wil ever give us that much power," Izuku laughed as he began rythmically dicing up some vegetables "Naruto go answer the door would you?" The blond raised an eyebrow before there was a rapt knock at the door. Walking over he opened it to see Tsunade stood almost awkwardly, "It Tsunade?"

"Yeah, you invite her over?" He moved out of the way to let the Hokage in.

"With Orochimaru and Jiraiya out of the village I figured she'd get lonely, so I've invited her for dinner until they come back,"

"Ah, alright, well, you can either join the card game or come chat in the kitchen Tsunade," Naruto smiled shutting the door behind her, "I'm sure Shisui will deal you in,"

"Hokage-sama! Come on, we'er about to start another round of go fish," Katsuki smiled as he shuffled the cards, before handing them back to Shisui.

"It's just a stew tonight, Hokage-sama," Itachi called out,

"Boys, I'm off duty, you can just call me Tsunade if I'm not wearing the hat or sitting in the office," Both nodded in understanding. "Is Sasuke not here?"

"He's just in a shower, while we were gone he's been training with Katsuki and the girls, Itachi's been going through the _Sharingan_ with him as well," They heard the stairs creaking as Sasuke's head peered over teh bannister.

"Someone say my name?"

"No, just telling Tsunade you've been training today, go put a shirt on," Izuku called out before Sasuke went bright red, "Oh and before I forget Temari has been touring the village for a while with Tayuya , she's been excited to see everyone again, she'll be here in a minute," The door opened and Tayuya greeted everyone proudly Temari walked in shyly. Naruto watched her gaze move around the area before landing on Sasuke and going scarlet.

"U-uh, h-h-hi, e-e-everyo-one," She averted her gaze to a suddenly interesting wall. Tayuya followed her in confusion and blinked while staring, her face rising in colour.

"H-hey Sa-sa-sasuke," She looked the other way quickly, looking everywhere around the room.

"Hi," Sasuke tried before they heard him turn and flee back up the stairs. Shisui began laughing while Itachi chuckled almost silently as his brother's expense. A door slammed and they heard a muffled scream of embarrasment. Everyone else just shook their heads.

"Temari, Tayuya, you want in? Or you want to talk in the kitchen?"

"Why don't you play Temari, I need to talk to Naruto for a second," The readhead sauntered into the kitchen before falling against the wall by the doorframe and steaming from her head. "Oh kami," She whispered "Naruto quick, help me," She whispered

"What?" She dragged him through the kitchen and into the back garden.

"Help me, he's hot!"

"And?"

"He's an Uchiha, he's not meant to be hot!" She hissed,

"Why not?"

"Because, because," Tayuya tried in vain to think of a reason, "Because the Uchiha and the Senju have a blood feud and the Uzumaki are related to the Senju so we have,"

"Tayuya, I've called Sasuke my brother before now, his brother and cousin were my first teachers, my first protectors, my first taste of family, the Senju might have head a blood feud, but the Uzumaki do not, moreover if you like him just kunoichi up and ask him out, there's a nice dinner place a few blocks down the street and I know Sasuke isn't doing anything this Friday, ask him to it, I'll cover your bill too if you need it,"

"But if he says no?"

"Big whoop, you'll find bigger and better men,"

"And you guys won't stop being friends? You won't get rid of me?"

"Look, I'll be honest, I'd like it if everyone got along, I would, and if you like him, go for it, but if it doesn't work out, you're still both going to be allowed in this house, both going to be able to eat at the dinner table, just don't make it awkward for everyone else," His relative seemed to relax, "Now get inside and play some cards," She nodded and walked back into the house, Naruto stood out there for another minute, "She really needs to pay more attention, I know your windows been open this whole time, I told you she'd still give a damn after you came back," A soft whump as a window was slammed close. He just laughed to himself as he walked back into the house, not worrying about whatever may be on the horizon just yet.

* * *

Shouka grumbled as she opened the door to her apartment, she didn't want to deal with Nemuri's most recent break up story at four in the morning. She had just finished a night shift dammit! Instead of her overly dramatic and emotional friend, on the other side of the door rested a small cot with a baby sleeping quietly inside. Attached to the cot was a note, stuck there by, wait was that a fucking kunai!? Pulling the weapon off the basket she carefully read the note.

_Hello Eraserhead,_

_This is Eri, she is a baby, she was taken by the Yakuza gang after her quirk activated a few months ago and she rewound her noncarrier mother into an amoeba. They have been using her blood to create a drug that erases quirks, that isn't good._

Oh so they want to fucking patronize her now? Of course a quirk erasing drug would be a problem.

_Now I have decided to give you Eri after I quite literally took her from under their noses, maybe keep her inside for a few days, I chose you to be her protector, because you can erase her quirk if she begins to panic and use it while she is with you, just keep out of arms reach when it starts before you can erase it. The second reason I chose you was because I know you will protect her. She needs that, love and protection. I chose you because I believe you will be the one to do this best don't disappoint me Aizawa Shouka._

_To let you know I'm serious there will be a supply of foods suitable for her dropped off tomorrow night, if you decide to accept, leave the bedroom light on during the day today. Do not try to find me, do not try to figure out who I am, I do not exist and I can not be found. Take care_

_Midorikage._

So a vigilante decided she would be a good mother? Yeah, no, that's not how any of that works. But the child was on her doorstep, and she did seem very cute. Scooping up the basket Shouka smiled at the sleeping baby before whisking her away inside the warmth of the building. She'd give it a chance just the once.

"If you're going to jump, just do it," A voice startled her. Mina looked around the empty rooftop, she was stood at the top of a building above a very busy entrance to a highway. "I can tell you're not serious because you've spent the last five minutes stepping back and forth of the edge,"

"What do you know? Where are you anyway?!"

"Me? I'm right here," She heard a swirl of wind and suddenly a tall figure stood behind her. "And I know a lot about being lost and having no hope, in fact I spent a lot of my childhood looking down at a view like you are now," They approached her.

"Who are you?"

"Deja-vu," They muttered, "My name is nothing for you to be concerned with, I don't exist and am dead to this world, but that doesn't mean you have to be," They grumbled for a moment.

"You don't hear the whispers, don't feel the looks, whoever you are you can't know what's it's like to be different," She looked away at the floor, her eyes watering. From what appeared to be a cloak, a hand emerged. Mina was about to slap the hand away as they reached for her, only for the figure to react quicker and grab her wrist, pulling it to their chest.

"I know better than anyone," They, _he_ muttered darkly. "To be ignored, harassed, mocked, attacked, I know more than you should ever suffer through,"

"You're- you're a male?" A sigh,

"Everyone's a critic," He mumbled, "Yes I'm male and that's all you need to know about me,"

"That doesn't change the fact," Mina was suddenly grabebd and pushed backwards. She cried out as she found herself tilting very far back off the edge to the point her heels were teetering off the edge. "Ah no, please,"

"Please what?" He threatened, "Do you want me to drop you? Just say it, just say please let me go,"

"No, please, please pull me back!"

"Why?"

"Because b-b-b-because,"

"Bu-bu-bu-because?" He mocked.

"Because I don't want to die!"

"What?"

"I don't want to die!" She screamed, before slowly repeating, "I don't want to die," Slowly he pulled her back to the roof "I don't want to die," The figure gently pulled her to his chest as she clung to him. "I don't want to die," Slowly she began crying in his chest, her fingers searching for something to hold on his back. "I... I don't want to die," She cried while sniffling.

"Shush, shh, shhh, it's okay," He gently pat her back as they rocked side to side in the dark of the night. "It's okay,"

"W-why? Why did you save me?"

"When I was younger, I hit a low point in life, people always called me mature for my age and it never felt more real than then," He scooped her up into a bridal carry "I was stood on top of a cliff, miles high and I walked off it, I purposefully allowed myself to fall towards the rocks that would've killed me,"

"What, happened?" The world tilted as they began jumping between rooftops.

"Well, my brother and my best friend called out to me after I dropped from the cliff, looking over the edge at me, fear and sorrow written on their faces, so, I realized that even in my darkest hours, when I was carrying on my lowest, they would be there beside me, ready to help me if ever I needed them and I decided I would do the same until the day I died,"

"How did you stop yourself from falling?" He shook his head and Mina barely made out the slightest of dark green curls.

"I stabbed the cliff with my knives and held on for dear life," They landed on the roof of her house, "Before I walked back up the cliff," They neared the edge of her house and slowly began walking down the...wall? "Now this is your stop," He let her down and she could see the living room light was on. "Before you go," A small old style blade was put in her palm, on the handle was somethign similar to scribbles, "If ever you need an ear to talk to again, focus on that, I'll be by your side before you open your eyes," He clearly saw the desperation in her eyes as he let her go, "Go to them," Mina didn't need another word as she bolted into the house, leaping into her parents' arms, bawling apologies and 'I love you's. As she calmed down Mina saw the figure stood in her garden still, although she couldn't see his face she swore he seemed, almost wishful. Before she blinked and he was gone, some leaves falling gently where he had been stood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, Christmas is almost here and I finally got no deadlines left. I don't wanna sound too optimistic but I'll probably do my best to get another chapter or two out in time for New Years. (One may even be a holiday offshoot that doesn't affect the timeline if I feel festive enough) But anyways, thanks again for all your support, hope you keep enjoying this and stay toasty dear readers.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	19. The Kage summit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deep in the land of Iron, the five Kage of the great nations meet for the first time in decades. Except they don't.
> 
> "He does not speak for the Hidden Leaf,"
> 
> "Sorry we're late!"

"Alright, so what's the mission today Tsunade?" Naruto put an arm around Sakura's shoulders, Sasuke and Katsuki made mock wretch sounds behind them. Izuku sighed and he heard a twin of soft cuffs before Tsunade shook her head and leant on her table. 

"As Squad Seven the four of you are going to be going on some highly classified missions from now on, as a team of five, these are meant to be clandesine, not even your housemates, partners, family or friends can e-,"

"Lady Hokage!" A shinobi burst through the door to the office, "Pardon my intrusion but Kazekage-sama sent me urgently, he is wondering if you will come to the Summit of the Five Kage in the Land of Iron,"

"A Five Kage Summit? I haven't recieved any information on this!" Tsunade slammed her desk. "What is going on?"

* * *

Raza wasn't panicking, no, he is the Kazekage, he doesn't panic. What he does do however, is worry. Which was exactly what he was doing now, because Tsunade was yet to make an appearance in the Land of Iron, even the Samurai general Mifune had not seen her. And more worrisome a suspicious man calling himself Danzo arrived instead, claiming to be the fifth Hokage. Raza was prepared to challenge the man when several ANBU like ninja arrived in his room and warned him against moving to contest Danzo's claim and if he did then ROOT, whatever that was, would make him regret doing so. They did not say if they would attack the village or go after his children, but he did not want to risk either unless there was something much greater at risk. As it happens, to Raza, it appears the fragile peace of the Five Nations was about to crumble due to this Danzo. So he discreetly sent his fastest Shinobi on a nonstop mission to get to Konoha as soon as possible. Hopefully the marker Izuku had placed on Kankuro during his stay in Suna was still active, since Kankuro and Hinata were his guards, the Hyuuga of course in diguise, while Gaara was supposedly at Suna. In truth the redhead was actually in Raza's room, being kept from the Akatsuki in case they tried to get him again. Now, the fourth Kazekage is not too proud to admit he was not the greatest father to Gaara in his youth, far from it, but thanks to both Uzumaki boys, they, _he_ had a chance to gain that connection, to truly be a father and bringing Gaara to the summit allowed them both time from the busy life in Suna and that Suna was one of the only villages to brink a Jinchuuriki to the table. HIs messenger had left in the early morning of yesterday going as fast as they possibly could. This meant hopefully that they would be here by sunset, when the summit was supposed to begin. A hand rested on his shoulder gently, "Psst, Uncle Rasa," Only one dared to call him such a casaul name, in fact they had done it specifically to annoy him in the beginning, until it turned into more of a reasuring phrase. Turning around showed Izuku accompanied by Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, a girl with short pink hair that must be Haruno Sakura and Senju Tsunade herself, the _true_ fifth Hokage.

"Oh thank goodness," Rasa whispered, forgetting formality and hugging Tsunade in relief, "I thought the worst had happened,"

"Don't worry Kazekage, we will see to it that this is rectified," Izuku assured him, looking again at the three boys, they all seemed to contain rage far beyond what their young minds should be able to generate. Danzo was clearly a thorn in their side. "The summit begins in the evening doesn't it?"

"Yes,"

"Good, can we rest in your room until then?"

"Of course, follow me," They walked silently before reaching the Kazekage's room, which had been adorned with a green tag for the summit. "Did you come via Kankuro?"

"No, I also studied in this place with Katsuki Uzumaki, we placed markers around the area to improve ourselves, it was simply finding whichever was closest to you," The door clsoed silently behind them.

"Katsuki Uzumaki?" Oh sweet Kami there was a third now?!

"Adopted into the clan shortly after your departure three years ago, he is as strong as any other member," The ash blond boy stepped from behind Tsunade, a small hand raised in greeting.

"So what is the plan? I assume Danzo has threatened you in some way to not speak out against him,"

"He simply said ROOT would do something horrible if I did so at the summit," Izuku disappeared in a flash of light, returning with Gaara, Kankuro and Hinata. "Temari is currently under protection of Shisui and Itachi Uchiha, Fox, can you make sure the seal on Gaara is correct? Raven check them over for poisons or seals, Petal see if there are any injuries at all, I wouldn't be suprised if ROOT nicked them with chakra draining weapons from the shadows, Embers, you and I are going to do a sweep and neutralize as many ROOT as we can find, understood?"

"Hai Midori,"

"What?"

"Yes Captian," Rasa raised his eyebrows, codenames? Why were they all wearing such dark clothing? And when did those masks get on their faces. Izuku and Katsuki adjusted their masks before reaching for their tantos and disappeared in twin flashes of light. Naruto moved over to Gaara and began inspecting the seal on the boy's gut while Sasuke inspected Kankuro's limbs and Sakura's hands glowed green while she healed whatever damage could have been done. They were incredibly efficient, organized too. Izuku was captain of the team? They must be quite...something. Kami were these five ANBU already? They're what sixteen? Rasa had sat with Izuku at the dinner table, at one point he'd played Shogi with Naruto on his travels with Jiraiya! It did explain how the boys were able to save Gaara with such ruthless efficiency. Izuku and Katsuki appeared again both without even a speck on them.

"Twenty," Katsuki boasted, Izuku just tilted his head, a smirk on his voice,

"Thirty-five,"

"You got fifty-five of them already?"

"Just the outergates so far Lady Hokage," Both boys dropped down onto one knee, bowing their heads, "We plan on moving in slowly to not raise the alarm, I've already informed Mifune of the situation and he agrees with our method, the Samurai will help dispose of any bodies we are unable to hide," Rasa swallowed, the clinical nature in Izuku's voice sent cold shivers down his back. "Fox, is the seal alright?"

"Untouched," Naruto's voice rang out,

"Wonderful, get seals on the walls, we don't want anyone hearing anything from in here, only those inside this room are allowed to come and go,"

"I can do it,"

"Make it so," They shared a nod, "Raven, anything?"

"Kankuro is clean, Hinata is showing no signs of poisoning either, Kazekage-sama?" He was slightly startled at how close the teen had gotten to him. Slowly he stretched out his arm and Sasuke rolled up his sleeve inspecting his arm before moving along to check for anything in his clothing. "He's clean too,"

"Wonderful, for now I want you on lookout, anything with a foreign chakra comes attempts to open the door I want them on the ground before the seals go off,"

"Understood Captain," Sasuke sat crossed legged in the center of the room and began meditating,"

"Petal?"

"Hinata is unharmed Captain, there was a single wound on her ribs draining her chakra however I have undone it and healed the wound," The pinkette moved silently onto Kankuro, "Kasekage-sama?"

"You have my permission to inspect me if you feel it is necassary," He spoke levelly, she nodded in understanding before refocusing on Kankuro.

"Embers, mobilize, this time we get to the inner wall before returning,"

"Understood Captain," 

"You have your jobs, mobilize," The boys disappeared in their flashes of light.

"Should uh, should I be worried?" Kankuro eyed Sakura as she inspected his arm.

"No," Tsunade shook her head "Squad Seven is the rising star team of Konoha's ANBU, we are safe in their hands," 

"Squad Seven acts as an isolated unit, we answer to Lady Hokage directly and Captain Midori during missions, we were assigned to help regain control of the Five Kage summit from a defector of the Leaf, responsible for two great tragedies seven years apart, so long as you are an ally of Lady Hokage, you are a friend of Squad Seven," Naruto explained as he drew symbols on the wall in black ink. Rasa snapped back to Tsunade,

"You gave them more authority than the Shinobi Council _and_ the council of elders?" He hissed, Tsunade waved a hand.

"Making Squad Seven was the first thing I did as Hokage, the Captain was promoted by Lord Third before he gave me the hat, I personally oversaw the training of their medic while two other members trained under my fellow Sannin and the fifth member trained with the Captain under the best of the best in the world," There was a small smirk "And the Captain helepd train all other members in all forms of fighting," Rasa felt his jaw drop "Besides, before they came to find me Green, Fox and Raven had a habit of spitting on the civilian council's face, they barely listened to the elders, especially after they proved the pair had aided the traitor to the Leaf," Gaara gave off a low whistle as Kankuro mumbled,

"I taught _that_ puppetry?!" Before shaking his head and seemingly doubling his shock "I _beat_ _him_ in sparring?!" Hinata seemed to have gone catatonic, limply leaning on Gaara as she went pale.

"I'm so far behind, I'm so far behind, I'm so far behind," She repeated, over and over. Gaara just stretched an arm around her to rub her shoulder reassuringly. A green flash and Izuku was kneeling again.

"Lady Hokage, the Snake and the Toad have returned from the Pond, they are both currently injured and are getting treated in the hospital," Tsunade nodded,

"Thank you Midori, dismissed," The Shadow Clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. Rasa huffed,

"Why do you get the stupid efficient deadly team?" Sakura lifed his arm to inspect his ribcage,

"I almost didn't," Tsunade laughed, "Word to the wise, _never_ play blackjack against Izuku,"

"Got it," He nodded, the group worked silently. "I take it Danzo Shimura is the traitor?"

"Giving his name out in the open is he?" Tsunade bristled, "Yes, he is responsible for unleashing Kurama on the village costing Naruto his parents and the village some of the bet damn shinobi I'd ever met, he is also responsible for the Uchiha Massacre that robbed Sasuke of his clan and the three boys their teachers until just before they left on their journeys, moreover he made many false reports and even faked Third's signature on documents to slowly allow the shinobi forces that weren't ROOT crumble, including changing the academy's cirriculum so badly my kunoichi weren't even kunoichi,"

"Other reports suggest Danzo is responsible for no less than five assassination attempts on Third's life, including manipulating one Kakashi Hatake who foiled the attempt in the last moment," Naruto added. Rasa didn't fail to notice how neither boy had reacted to the news Tsunade said.

"Your team is orientated,"

"My _squad_ ," Tsunade hummed as, Sakura began inspecting Gaara for wounds

"Raven, senbon," Sasuke stood up

"Keep guard," With that the pinkette sat down while he took over looking at Gaara. "Fox did you not see the marking in the ribcage?"

"No, the seal was too intricate for me to search for something else," Naruto was painting the walls with more ink. 

"Knows how to get a mission done, they've been training since they left the academy, working harder than anyone else," She continued as if the teens hadn't spoke. "So far Raven, Fox and Raven were able to take out three Akatsuki while Fox was able to take out two more working with team ten and I haven't assigned them a mission yet," A pair of flashes and Katuski and Izuku had returned.

"Lady Hokage," Izuku knelt with a bowed head "Lord Kazekage, we have incapacitated as much of the ROOT forces as we can for the moment, once Kazekage-sama begins to make his way to the summit Embers and I will eliminate the rest, we advise you stay in this room for now Lady Hokage while Lord Kazekage acts none the wise to Danzo's plotting," Both nodded, "If Kazekage can begin to voice the false Hokage, Lord Tsuchikage will also realize that Danzo is an imposter due to the visit at the Chuunin exams three years ago, Mifune will also know as he is always aware of the identities of the Kage," Rasa furrowed his brow,

"You are thinking of outing him in front of the other Kage? Are you not concerned it will make the Leaf look weak?"

"I am aware of that risk Kazekage-sama, however I have all the pieces needed to prove Danzo intercepted a message meant for Lady Hokage, I am tryign to give the villages a common enemy, ROOT does not target just Konohagakure, in fact in the beginning of my travels with Embers, we helped bring an end to the kekki genkai war in Kirigakure, only to discover the Mizukage at the time was under a genjutsu and ROOT had been supplying weapons to both sides the entire time,"

"We also helped Iwagakure when ROOT attempted to cripple their economy by attacking travellers and suppliers," Katsuki supplemented, "They should know we aren't enemies and stand with us,"

"And what of Kumogakure?"

"If they fall they will only have their Raikage's prideful arrogance to blame," Izuku commented neutrally, "Many attempts have been made to compromise with the village, all were rejected by the Raikage for no other reason than it would mean they seem less powerful," Hinata gasped and began shaking. "Hinata, I can assure you now, nothing like that will ever occur again, on my life and those of all Kumogakure," Gaara shrugged off Sasuke and doubled his efforts to reassure the purplette.

"Alright, seals are done Captain,"

"No signs of poison in anyone Captain,"

"All wounds healed Captain,"

"All enemy forces possible eliminated Captain," The four regrouped around Izuku and all joined him on one knee.

"Mission success Lady Hokage," Izuku kept his head down, "Next mission?"

"Dismissed for now," Tsunade seemed to stand a little straighter, "Rest for the meantime, when the summit comes I want the _team_ not the _squad_ ," In a puff of smoke all five were back in casual clothing.

"You got it Tsunade," Izuku grinned, Rasa wasn't entirely sure he was seeing things correctly.

"I'm sorry, but did your _elite direct_ ANBU squad, just swap places with them?" Tsunade laughed heartily, the ink around the room glowing lightly.

"Not at all Kazekage, it's like a switch with them, when the masks are on it's ANBU, when they're off, it's teenagers, granted the top five ninja in Konoha, but teens nonetheless," She shrugged. Rasa sighed and shook his head, smiling.

"Very well, if this is the very best of the Hidden Leaf, I may have a stronger ally than I previously thought,"

"You're not an ally Rasa, you're a friend," Tsunade offered a hand, Kankuro, Katsuki and Sasuke all pretended to throw up, Gaara continued reassuring Hinata while Izuku had summoned a Shadow Clone and began playing rock, paper, scissors with himself and Naruto was already animatedly talking with Sakura again. He laughed and shook her hand.

"And I'm glad to be one," They shared a smile.

The group gathered at the table. Rasa took them in, Mei Terumi; Fifth Mizukage, Onoki of Both Scales; Third Tsuchikage, A the Unruly; Fourth Raikage (Weren't the other Raikage also called A? Was he like, immortal or some shit?) and Danzo Shimura, Fake Fifth Hokage. They sat around a curved table, with Mifune stood in the center as mediator. Rasa observed him too. Mifune; Samurai general of the Land of Iron. He was easily older than Onoki and yet his body seemed in much better condition. Perhaps he should ask the Samurai of the seccret to his good health? Takign the hat off his head the Kazekage focused on the imposter opposite him. This operation was meant to be clean, quick, any ROOT agents nearby would be killed before Danzo even opened his mouth. Mifune tapped his cane on the floor and began speaking. "Before the Five Kage summit may begin, there is any issue anyone can see?" Rasa stood up, glaring at Danzo before pointing.

"That man is not the Hokage," Mifune nodded slightly,

"And what made you come to that decision Kazekage?" Danzo frowned, glaring with one eye, he not-so-subtly flared his chakra. 

"I have dealt with Lady Fifth on numerous occasions before now, and unless I am going senile, you are not a Lady,"

"I did notice that you are not in fact Tsunade Senju of Konohagakure," Mifune added, "Is there a reason you claim her mantle?"

"Great Samurai, I am here on behalf," Rasa slammed his hands on the table.

"This man does not speak for the Hidden Leaf!" He barked snarling at Danzo, "I have spoken to many shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, he is a traitorous shinobi that directly caused two tragedies to befall them!" Footsteps echoed towards the room, Danzo held the traces of a smirk as six figures burst into the room, surprising most of those in the room.

* * *

"Sorry we're late!" Naruto cried out grinning, despite the boiling hatred in his gut. Danzo stared at them in barely concealed shock. The Raikage stood up, sending his chair to the floor.

"What is this? Attempting to assassinate us on neutral grounds?!"

"Sit down A!" Izuku barked as he walked over to the Kazekage, "Don't worry they are all," Naruto watched as A charged forward, his arm coated in chakra, clotheslining the Kazekage's hat. "They are safe, the last remnants of ROOT are being disposed of now," Izuku climbed off the desk. The Raikage was behind him with a flicker, a fist raised to strike the teen from behind.

"YOU INSOLENT!" Everyone watched slack-jawed as Izuku turned around and wrapped his arm around A's, stopping with a kunai just short of the man's throat.

"You are going to sit down, you are going to listen and you are going to do it quietly, do not test me Raikage, I am faster than you," Izuku's voice was quiet and level as the Raikage tried to lean his neck away from the small blade. Mifune tapped his cane against the ground to gain attention. A silently fumed and returned to his seat almost feral with anger.

"Boy, you have minutes to explain," Izuku nodded and walked into the middle of the table.

"Mei Terumi, fifth Mizukage, three years ago Konoha recovered Kurikiribocho and had sent it as a possible olive branch to Kirikagure, did you recieve it?"

"No," She glared at him. Izuku nodded,

"Of course you didn't, because the traitor's faction of shinobi stole it in the night while out shinobi were en route, he has kept it until now, probably to give it to you in a weak attempt to prove his fake validity," Izuku pulled out a scroll, "Fortunately he does not leave things out of reach, this was on one of his agents that had been behind your banner," If Danzo was surprised he did a good job hiding it. Izuku handed the great blade to Mei.

"How do I know you recovered it? And this isn't some ploy by Tsunade and the Kazekage to ignite a war?"

"I witnessed the death of Zabuza Momochi, fought alongside him after his change of heart saved the people of the Wave, buried it with him after his death," She took the blade softly from him, "Then I killed Juzo when he attcked me in Konoha after he told me that he had robbed Zabuza's grave," She went pale and looked towards Izuku's steel face. "Although I did have assistance from my brother, Uzumaki Naruto, he's the obnoxiously yellow blond," Sakura rubbed his back as they all saw a cartoon cloud form above his head.

"How can we trust this isn't some elaborate scheme? Or that you've been put under a genjutsu,"

"Onoki, I'm hurt," Izuku put a hand to his chest, "Do you really not remember little old me?"

"Of course I remember you Izuku, but how do we know you aren't being manipulated? All this talk could just be smoke and mirrors," At this point the Kazekage spoke,

"I feel that I should mention, recently the Akatsuki member Deidara attacked and kidnapped my own son, Gaara, with the intent of extracting the One Tail from him, it was only thanks to Izuku, Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha that he was rescued, Deidara was killed in the encounter, along with a rouge from Sand,"

"Y-you killed Deidara?"

"No, those two did, I killed Sasori," Izuku jutted a thumb over his shoulder, Naruto beamed.

"The point being, I still have the seal with the body if Stone wants it, it should prove we aren't being manipulated," The scroll was passed over to Onoki, who laid it on the table and sure enough, Deidara's preserved body was laid on the table.

"Very well," Onoki resealed the body, putting the parchment in a pocket. "You have convinced me,"

"I'm yet to be truly swayed and I doubt Raikage will reach an agreement,"

"Raikage is too proud, he won't work with anyone unless he gets to be in charge like the big kid he is," Izuku waved a hand over his shoulder, as A seemed apoplectic, stood up, shaking with fury. "Mizukage, do you not recognize the two shinobi that helped you win the civil war and release your predecessor from the genjutsu cast on him?"

"Thief?" Katuski smirked as he walked forward, "Blondie?"

"The one and only," He bowed to her, "A pleasure to see you in good health again Mei,"

"Likewise," Everyone was on guard as they heard a rustle of movement.

"I KNEW THIS WAS A DISTRACTION!" A roared, "WHILE I HAVE BEEN SAT HERE YOUR SHINOBI HAVE CAPTURED MY JINCHUURIKI," 

"Okay, first of all biiiiitch!" Naruto stepped forward "They are not 'your jinchuuriki' they are people that you cursed to a lifetime of distrust, abuse and discrimination," A's eyelid twitched slightly. "Oh, getting under your skin am I?"

"Regardless of your infantile views, the fact remains that I must take my leave to go and hunt them,"

"If only," Izuku interrupted dramatically, flailing one arm around while putting the other to his forehead and gazing upwards mockingly. "Someone had a way of getting to somebody anywhere in the world instantly," His gaze moved down from the cieling with an evil smirk, "Oh, wait," He disappered in a flash of green light, leaving a single kunai to spin in the air before, reappearing seconds later with a slim blonde kunoichi and a tall, muscular shinobi wearing goggles that were too small and far too many swords strapped to his body. "Someone did," The shinobi immediately started rapping, poorly.

"Oh damn, it's Izu-man! Ready to shift if ya catch ma drift," Naruto sweatdropped, before his face morphed into horror as Izuku rapped back!

"Someone's gotta save yo ass, but since yo a brotha I'll give ya a pass,"

"So you wanna battle? Man I'll leave ya rattled!"

"Please ma dude, y'ain't that good, pick up the rhymes or get with the times,"

"If you're quite finished, let's get to business," The kunoichi interrupted, gritting her teeth at the unintentional rap. "Raikage-sama," She fell to one knee and bowed, "We were,"

"I am aware, a messenger just arrived from Kumo," His voice barely concealed his rage, "Izuku here departed seconds ago to retrieve you," The pointing hand fell, "Using the Yellow Flashes technique, are you?"

"No I'm adopted,"

"I'm not!" Naruto jumped next to Izuku, "Son of the Fourth, learned everything my old man left behind and then some,"

"And you use it to travel easily? You di-,"

**Thunk**

Eyes locked onto the kunai that landed in front of the Raikage.

"Pick your next words very carefull, _Raikage_ ," Naruto growled "While my father may have had difficulty in outright beating you, _we won't_ ," Sasuke, Katsuki and Sakura stood by them, "Now if you are done trying to appear like a god, we have more pressing," They turned to see an empty chair. "He's running,"

"Not this time!" Izuku growled as he tore off through the door. Tsunade quietly took her seat, shrugging the cloak off her shoulders, raising a finger as Mei was about to speak.

"Three, two, one!"

"FUCKING SHIMMUUURAAAA!!!" The Kazekage reflexivley ducked and looked around while others quickly got on guard. Izuku appeared in the room again standing calmly before making his way to Tsunade's side. "Apologies, where were we?"

"We haven't even begun," Mifune sighed. Naruto groaned with Sasuke while Sakura just sat down on the floor next to him and began meditating. "Alright now, the summit was called for by the Raikage, so he shall be the one to lead it,"

"Fellow Kage, I wanted to call this summit to bring attention to the organisation known as the Akatsuki, including the attempt that just happened they have tried to capture both of the Kumogakure Jinchuuriki, Killer B and Yugito Nii," 

"Oh? Suna and Konoha have been tracking and hunting the group for the last few years," The Kazekage rubbed a finger on his portion of the table while leaning on his hand, "Raikage did you call this meeting to tell us about foiled kidnapping attempts?"

"No, I came to declare the Akatsuki a threat we must,"

"So just because they pose a threat to Kumogakure, they are a threat to all the other villages too?" Izuku chided, "As Lord Kazekage stated, we have been tracking the group for three years, yet we did not call a summit,"

"Yugito Nii is one of Kumo's best kunoichi, even without relying on the Two Tails,"

"Matabi," Naruto interrupted, " _Her_ name is Matabi, use it, _thug_ ,"

"And yet she was still unable to eliminate the rogues that came after her,"

"Kakuzu and Hidan, if my memory serves, Hidan had gotten hold of her _keepers_ blood and killed him using a voodoo style jutsu," The Raikage stared in numb shock, "Oh they didn't tell you? I assisted them both when the Akatsuki attacked, I did say I was tracking them, she couldn't eliminate them because Hidan is a heretic that underwent a ritual to obtain immortality and almost unstoppable healing prowess and Kakuzu had four masks that he fed living hearts to in order to extend his lifespan," A gentle shrug, "At least until they went after Naruto,"

"I managed to figure out how to stop Hidan from healing and left him with one arm," He grinned as his breath ignited into a tiny flame for a moment, "And I killed Kakuzu, with a jutsu I created, severing his tenketsu and breaking his remaining three masks,"

"So far the only Akatsuki member we haven't killed is Kisame Hoshigaki, and that's because we let him retreat to prevent damage to the village,"

"So that is three,"

"Five," The Kazekage interrupted, "You probably didn't hear moments ago that they also killed Deidara of the Stone and Sasori of the Red Sand when they went after my son and honorary brother of theirs," He gave the Raikage a level gaze, "I hope you weren't assuming Kumo is the strongest without question,"

"As impressive as that initially sounds we don't know,"

"Twelve members," Tsunade's lips curled into a smile, "Meaning there are only seven left, not even enough to go after one Jinchuuriki each,"

"Kirigakure will stand alongside Konoha and Suna,"

"As will Iwagakure," Naruto glanced to see the Raikage balked at them. He chuckled lightly,

"Raikage, you are unhappy? Is a united front not what you wanted?"

"He expected us to rally behind Kumo, to prove it is the strongest of all and therefore the only one that should lead a united front," Izuku leant against a wall. Naruto walked into the centre of the area.

"Okay, how about this, Raikage, charge at me, fast as you can with your Lariat, if it collides with me, the villages will follow your lead, but if if does not hit me within, thirty seconds, you must lose this might makes right attitude you seem to clutch at," Tsunade lifted her thumb while the Kazekage nodded,

"I trust you," He leant back in his chair, Mei and Onoki gazed at the two Kages before seeming to understand and putting their faith in the blond silently. A stood up, his arms by his side.

"Very well," His arm glowed soft blue before he dashed at Naruto, who stood smiling. To others it would appear the Raikage was moving faster than the eye could follow, Tsunade had admitted at dinner that even Jiraiya had trouble following the ridiculous speed. But Naruto had been training his entire life, sure it didn't mean he was better than the Raikage, but the weight training, weighing himself down for weeks at a time, had made him move fast, and to move fast he needed to _react_ fast _._ He watched A touch down on the floor ahead of the desk, the blond crouched and jumped upwards, spiraling. As A grew closer, he stuck his leg out, before the unruly Raikage could react, his foot lodged firmly into the man's face and sent him flying backwards. There was an almighty crunch as the body crashed through the wall. The timer continued to tick as the Raikage lay dazed on the floor. His guards seemed to just stare in shock at his body.

"Time!" Mifune called as the clock struck out. Naruto calmly walked back over to Tsunade, giving her a subtle fist bump. Izuku smirked and leant towards his brother,

"You should've gone for the chest," Naruto shook his head and his shoulders bounced silently.

"Now to discuss how the Five Nations will interact," And just like that Naruto zoned out.

* * *

Itsuka wasn't expecting him to appear again. She simply held the weapon in her hands remembering how safe he had made her feel when he had spent those minute in her company. It had been a week since then and Kage hadn't been seen since, not even rumours of him circulated. It hadn't been hard for her to realize Kage was half of the Twin Kages, he'd literally told her he was called Kage. Even so, listening out for news on the duo proved just as fruitless. Starting three years ago rumours of a green shadow had circulated every social circle and media a handful of times, because he and his everpresent partner, were only heard from for a few days at a time every month, with no real pattern to the appearances. Now though rumours had yet to make the rounds, for the second month running. People had begun to either forget them or speculate they had died. Of course Itsuka didn't believe it, she couldn't, not when Midorikage himself had saved her and carried her home. Here in her hands was undeniable proof that he was real! Clutching the weapon tightly she began thinking openly that he may never appear aga-

"You rang?" Itsuka yelped and fumbled with the blade before he reached out a hand and expertly caught it between his fingertips. She fell onto the floor in a heap with a soft thud. She stared at the black figure for several seconds.

"Itsuka, honey? You okay? We heard a yelp," The door began creaking open and Itsuka blinked as she was bathed in the warm light from the hall.

"Oh, yeah, sorry mom, just, tripped over a pile of clothes," She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, "You and Ma going to bed now?"

"Yes, and you should too, you need to be up for school, tomorrow," The door began closing, "Maybe you can clean up your room tomorrow too," She stared at the door for a solid minute before hissing,

"Kage?" Silence, "Kage?" Looking around the room revealed nothing.

"Do you really scare that easily?" Itsuka jumped as he stood in front of her again, offering a hand. "Why did you summon me?"

"I didn't mean to, I just, I held the knife,"

"The kunai, it's a kunai, a throwing weapon," His head slipped into his cloak to pull the weapon out, handing it to her before returning to his side.

"Well, I just held it and thought if I'd ever see you again, I'd ask if you could answer some questions," Kage sighed tiredly before helping himself to the chair again, this time moving it silently to face her bed before sitting down and kicking his feet up to the footboard of her bed.

"You are free to ask whatever questions you wish, I shall answer how I see fit,"

"Where do you live?"

"Classified,"

"How do you get here?"

"Classified,"

"Alright, but how can you get between them so fast?"

"You saw my Sha- my clone did you not? It stayed with you while I left to continue patrols and pursuits, I can be in multiple places at once, regardless of distance," He steepled his fingers together, "Should you not be in your pajamas?" Itsuka looked down to see she was still in the tee and jeans she had changed into after getting home, both were covered in stains from messy foods and dirt from playing with her younger siblings. "I can look away if you wish?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow

"Why? You're just a male, what can you do with an eyeful?" Kage's head stopped midturn.

"I...huh?" She reached for the hem of her shirt.

"Why would you like away? I'm not showing,"

"Would you look away if I were to strip?" Her hands rose quickly, forgetting her shirt as her face flushed. "Then I will do you the same courtesy," He rotated the chair to face away from her as she began to get changed. "Do you have anymore questions?"

"You said you don't exist, that there are no records, what do you mean?" As she adjusted the tank top and shorts she felt a shiver from the open window.

"What I said, in this world I am dead, forgotten by those who knew I lived but to the larger world I was never born and never existed," She walked past him before reaching for a small lamp, that gave the room a soft golden glow. Despite facing the light Kage's face was still covered in shadow.

"How come I still can't see your face?"

"Same way my hood stays up when walking up a wall, same way I walk up the wall in fact," A hand appeared from the cloak again, "Trade secret," Itsuka huffed, "Now may I ask you a few questions?"

"I mean I guess?"

"Why were you in that alleyway?"

"Well, those guys were bad guys, they were selling drugs out to kids on my block, I couldn't let them get away with it,"

"And you decided to take justice into your own hands, without any martial arts training? Any skills is deduction, stealth or practise with your quirk?"

"That's illegal, I'd be a villain, no better than a murderer or a,"

"I've killed," The chill to the voice brought the temperature of the room down, "I've killed a lot of people, so many I've lost count, in fact I killed an extra seventy-nine today, my partner killed seventy one too," Itsuka tried to open her mouth, "I killed people that were going to murder innocent civilians, people that had done nothing wrong except be born into the wrong family, does that make me a villain?"

"I..,"

"In the place I am from, is a land, in that land was a civil war, families without special abilities wanted to kill every family member to a clan that had a unique ability, even if said member didn't have the ability, I put an end to the war, and you know how I did it? I killed every man, woman and teen that decided another should die for something they were born with," Itsuka shivered at the emotionless way his voice echoed, "For every person I killed, a whole family got to live, so am I a villain?" She stared at him, hoping to look into his eyes. "No, I'm both you see, because to those I saved I am the hero they prayed for, but to the families of those I slaughtered, to the fathers, mothers, brother, sisters, lovers, to those people I am a savage killer that should be hanged,"

"But, but you saved so many,"

"Alright, let me ask you, if a heroine, let's say,"

"All MIght?"

"Yeah, sure why not, if All Might killed your parents, without hesitation or mercy and simply told you that it was because they were going to kill everyone in the city if she didn't kill them, would she be a hero or a villain?" Itsuka thought for a second, "Exactly, to you she'd be nothing but a murderer, whereas to the city, she remains the beacon of heroism," Itsuka looked away as she climbed into the bed. Kage sighed again, (Does he ever stop doing that?) she could feel his untraceable gaze on her. "What you did was a bad idea, a horrible one really, I'm glad you haven't endangered yourself so needlessly again," She was about to argue no-one else was doing it when he held up a hand. "When I appeared stating 'you suck at sneaking around' I was addressing the entire group, I was simply waiting for them to be in a position like how you found them,"

"Can you teach me?"

"You aren't able to do the things I do, because your body has not been trained to withstand the the sheer stress and pressure, how far did you tail the criminal for?"

"Like, ten minutes, we were miles away from here,"

"And yet it took barely a word for me to get back here, less than considering you were busy feeling me up,"

"You said to cop a feel," She pouted and folded her arms,

"Yes, I suppose I did, but I was hoping you would more just _touch_ my chest, not run your hands over it like an infant trying to colour in a picture with blunt crayons," She snorted at him,

"Was that,"

"Yes that was a joke, for you anyway," He mockingly sniffled and his cloak ruffled, indicating an arm had come up to his chest. "Anyway, I can't teach you, not for not wanting to, you've got the drive, but for inability, I could kill you with a single strike of one of my fingers if I stopped holding back,"

"Impossible, not even All Might is that strong,"

"I've walked up walls, made perfect copies of myself, covered several miles in a second and breathed fire, but you draw the line at my strength?" She hummed at him, not able to think of a good comeback, "Besides, it's not all about power," Kage stood up and walked over to her, "i'd just need a direct jab, about as strong as a punch, to this point here," A finger rested on the back of her neck, "And your whole body will seize up, muscles will tense unwillingly, your lungs will stop expanding for several seconds, a bit harder and you'll seize up for minutes," Her skin prickled under his touch, "And if I strike just a tad higher with just the tiniest bit more force, close to a ball thrown with the full power of a regular teen, that strikes directly here," His fingertip was warm but it sent shivers down her spine, "And you'd be dead before you knew I'd moved," Her eyes darted to his head, which was just next to hers, "So if I'm being honest, I could kill you with one strike of one finger even while I'm holding back," Itsuka gulped because this time, this time she _didn't doubt it_.

Kage's voice had been so soft as he described how he could not just kill her but leave her paralyzed with almost no effort that he couldn't be lying, even though he was a male, something regarded as subhuman in society. The way his eyes felt fixed to her face as he spoke told Itsuka, she was glass to him, she was _more fragile_ than glass to him. "And here's another trick," She heared the smile on his face. "If I do strike this section here," His finger grazed over the bottom of her neck, where her spine connected to her shoulders, between the vertabrae, "Like so," His finger pulled away before harshly jabbing the area. Itsuka's head snapped up but even when she opened her mouth to shout in surprise, no sound came. "I can force your muscles to freeze," Her eyes darted back to his head, her chin refused to move down as her legs fought to move. Kage stood up to his full height, his chest starting just out of her eyesight as he looked down to her.

"The effect will only last a few minutes, but I can extend the period as I wish and since your lungs still work and your heart still beats, it leaves you completely at my mercy," Oh God, she was in trouble, "I'm not going to hurt you, merely displaing what I can do, Miruko demanded I show her last night when she caught me scoping out a Yakuza compound," His hand curled around the back of her head, his fingers weaving into her hair. Her eyes closed momentarily, shit was she enjoying this?! Why was she enjoying this?! "Now you know how careful I have to be, are you scared of me?" His pinkie finger pressed a point on her neck and Itsuka was able to shake her head left to right slowly, still not sure if the rest of her could move. "Good,"

"Why did you come here?" Her voice was hoarse,

"Because people cried wolf a very, very long time ago, and now it's time for them to cry it once more," His hand retreated from her neck as the door opened again, her phone appeared in her hand and she opened whatever app she pressed first.

"Itsuka? We heard voices?"

"Just my phone Ma, sorry, I couldn't find my headphones before the livestream started, I was just about to check my coat," A hum of disapproval,

"Alright, don't stay up too late watching it alright?"

"You got it Ma," The door closed again, Kage stood dead still behind it. "How did you move so fast?"

"Trade secret," That childish grin was fucking palpable. Itsuka laid down and groaned as Kage appeared by her bedside, resting the kunai on her bedside table again. "You know what to do if you need me," Again she reached out and caught his sleeve, he looked at her hand before twisting his head to her. "You want me to stay again," She nodded and shuffled in the bed. "You want me to lay down with you?" A smaller, more embarrassed nod. Kage made a copy before disappearing in a swirl of leaves again, (Did he not know how much of a pain those were to clean up?) he sat down on her bed before laying down with a quiet groan. Itsuka immediately latched onto him, the safety last week felt like a rollercoaster compared to how safe she felt now. Taking in as much as she could Itsuka closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pain in her heart. No matter how hard she clung to him, how much she took in his scent, how long she listened to his heartbeat, it would end the same way.

He'd be gone in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes the Five Kage happened after Pain's assault in cannon, I suck. But....I'm not changing it up too much with this, it does in part help with what I'm planning.  
> So I know in my last notes I said about maybe getting another chapter or two out before New Years, but I'm really getting back into the fic with all the spare time I have now, so you might even get a third. I'll do my best to keep the quality up too cus I feel like that's slipping ever so slightly.  
> Happy Holidays to all my lovely readers!  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	20. Family issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Now you shall know pain!"
> 
> Naruto couldn't move, but he had to, his body screamed at him as he tried but he ignored the pain. He HAD to MOVE!
> 
> "You ever, *pant* make me, *pant* move that fast *pant* again *pant* I will turn *pant* your ass into shoes!"

Naruto dusted his hands as he looked around the Kazekage's room, his seals had been brushed off the walls. Not even a mark was left. Izuku had worked with the Samurai to move all a hundred odd ROOT bodies out of the building, where to he didn't know. But he didn't really care, what he did care about though, was how easily Izuku bribed the Samurai into assisting him. Katsuki hadn't been lying when he said they loved his spicy katsudon. The greenette barely mentioned the idea as a little thank you and the Samurai had already begun hauling bodies away. Tsunade had gotten a good chuckle from it while Katsuki took Sasuke and Sakura home before returning to help clean up the bodies. The Mizukage and her aides had sat with Tsunade after they had packed to discuss polotics. That conversation became _super_ boring, but the Shadow Clone had remained by Tsunade's side because like it or not, Naruto was going to have to deal with that when he became Hokage. So he resolved to figure out how to cope with the boredom. They were getting ready to leave when Samurai began rushing into the summit room. The Kage quickly followed along with the guards. Squad Seven was last in, meeting up to puff into their ANBU gear. The five landed front and center however clutching their tantos ready to battle. Naruto stood at the front, Izuku and Katsuki on his left, Sasuke and Sakura on his right. The whole room was facing a single man, stood still as a statue, calmly facing down the entire small army in front of him. "Tobi," Izuku growled "Why are you here for clown? Danzo's already fled like a coward,"

"I know," The voice was much deeper and much more menacing than before, "I was the one that assisted him in fleeing, I also assisted him in intercepting the messenger sent to get Hokage in hopes she would not actually arrive," NAruto drew his blade slowly, "But now I come with a declaration, Tobi was simply a name to distract you fools, my true name is Mada,"

"Obito Uchiha," Sasuke cut off, "Your _Mangekyou_ is similar to Kakashi's, after studying the Uchiha records for a while, I found that you're supposedly dead after a failed mission in the Third Great Ninja War, the same mission that resulted in Kakashi gaining his _Sharingan_ ,"

"Ah yes, the Friend-,"

"I'd watch your tone Obito," Katsuki growled "I might not know who you are but I know that Kakashi isn't a friend-killer,"

"Agreed, it's hard not to kill someone when they jump infront of your jutsu,"

"It matters not, my best ninja are already moving to capture the Eight and Two tails jinchuuriki while you have this farce of a,"

"You mean these two?" Izuku flicked a thumb as B and Yugito. The eye revealed by the mask thinned,

"Well, if they failed that so be it, but right now they are collecting the other jinchuuriki as we speak, in fact they should be arriving in Konohagakure to claim the Nine tails right now," An audible sneer, "And with the destruction of Konohagakure imminent, I will declare the Fourth Great Ninja War," He swirled around his eye and disappeared as A charged him with a Lariat.

"Raikage! Behave yourself!" Izuku ordered "if you charge recklessly you will regret it,"

"You may pose a threat yet boy," Obito sneered from the side of the room. "But even if you could stop me here, you won't stop Konoha from being destroyed," Something tugged quickly at the back of Naruto's head and he allowed a smirk to his lips, "So I shall leave you to panic like the ants you are before I crush you," He disappeared in another swirl.

"Raven, Petal?"

"Nowhere nearby," Both shook their heads.

"Wonderful, Lady Hokage, hold on," Izuku grabbed the two blonds and disappeared, Naruto took Sakura and Sasuke and disappeared. Yugito stepped backwards, looking at the spot in abject horror.

"Those children were ANBU?!"

* * *

Ino wasn't sure what was going on at the start, just people began stopping and looking up at the sky. She had been on her lunch break at the time so she didn't really notice at first. Until people began stopping in the streets and staring up at the sky. People began doing it right in front of her as she was eating, how could she not notice? Following their gazes she noticed a small speck floating in the sky, standing out against the blue. She couldn't discern what it was exactly but it appeared humanoid is, the muttering of the crowds began to die down and she could here the person speaking. "I will end the cycle of hatred, now prepare because now you shall know pain!" Ino watched as the person lifted their arms in front of them, "ALMIGHTY PUSH!" 

Konoha _exploded_

Not exactly exploded, but a great force suddenly appeared pushing everyone and thing away from the focal point. Ino cried out as she was pushed back with the people around her. Buildings began falling apart as trees were uprooted. The world blurred as she rolled along the floor. Picking herself up quickly she looked around the destruction hurriedly. A wisp of silver hair and she took a deep breath, "Kakashi!" The cycloptic shinobi perked up and looked around to her, moving to her side "We need to evacuate everyone, now! Get everyone you can helping to get people out, I'll grab as many med-nin as I can and set up a shelter on the west edge."

"Got it," He nodded and looked back at the remains of Konohagakure, or at least, where the remains _should_ be. Ino looked over too and softly inhaled as she saw, nothing was left. In fact, less than nothing was left, because even the ground had been moved. Making a crater spanning most of Konoha, starting in the very centre of the village. She felt the blood drain from her face before taking a moment to calm her shaken nerves and pull the flower from her hair, it had been in her hair for three years every day, and resting by her sleeping body every night. It was a flower with a stem covered in black splotches, except they weren't splotches, they were parts of a seal, a seal only one person could create. Pulsing her chakra through the flower hurriedly she tossed it to the wind, letting it float towards the centre of the crater, where the figure was now beginning to land. Kakashi began running around, finding Itachi and Shisui, relaying the plan so far. A tear brimed in her eye as her lower lip quivered and Ino turned to leave, to leave and set up the medical shelter they were going to need. Meanwhile at the flower there was a flicker of yellow and three new figures stood before the unidentified attacker, observing the damage before glaring at them.

* * *

"I just paid that off asshole," Naruto folded his arms, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"My name is Pain, and I am God, I am here to destroy Konohagakure and take the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox,"

"Alright _Pain_ ," He growled, "Since you've already wrecked the place, I bet you're looking for that Jinchuuriki now aren't you?"

"Konoha ANBU do not intimidate me, tell me the location and I'll make your destruction less painful,"

"Right in front of you, Raven, Petal, can you cover me for five minutes?" He sat down and crossed his legs.

"We'll do what we can," Sasuke nodded, drawing his tanto,

"Summoning jutsu!" Pain cried, slamming his hand on the floor. The three of them watched as five more figures appeared, all with facial piercings, orange hair and purple eyes. "We are the Six paths of Pain, we wield the Rinnegan and we shall teach you,"

"Oh my god, just shut up!" Sakura ran forwards, her hands glowing as she drew her blade. Naruto made two Shadow Clones and watched them support Sakura and Sasuke. A six on four right would break down into two three on two fights. Sasuke and his clone would be synchronized after studying under the two offensive Sannin, so they could hold the three at bay, while Sakura and his second clone matched perfectly. Even after three years Naruto knew every move she'd make in a spar and would account for it, his clone would match her style, the duo was unstoppable. Naruto closed his eyes and began collecting Nature Energy, Jiraiya had done his best to teach Naruto this technique, the blond hadn't been able to master it due to the fact he needed to sit still. It wasn't really in his nature to sit still, right now though he could use the boost. He still couldn't control all nine tails of chakra, hell Kurama was hesitant to give him the seventh, since it would require opening the gate in the mindscape and mixing their chakra pools permanently. So this was the next best option, his only problem was sitting still. He knew the others were fighting around him, he could hear it! But he needed to stay still, just another moment. Nature energy began molding with his chakra, filling his body, making him want to move more, but he had to sit still. The energy almost began encompassing him, his body desperate to even just vibrate. Taking a deep breath Naruto forced his muscles not to move, just for one, more.

**Click**

There it was, the nature energy swirling along his chakra pathways, powering up his very being and granting him access to new forms of justu. _Senjutsu_. 

"Clear!" In one hand grew a Rasen-shuriken, "Light it up Sasuke!"

"What?!" The ravenette turned to see the jutsu gliding straight towards him, smiling he turned back to the two Pains in front of him while the clone dispelled. Sasuke waited until the last minute to backflip over the blade of air, a Chidori screeching in his hand and getting pulled into the rotation. 

"Combo jutsu," Both called out, "Rasendori-Shuriken!" Both Pains were struck by the almost invisible whirlwind, getting carried away with it as the lightning paralyzed them in place. It swirled skyward, taking the duo with it before exploding. Both bodies hit the floor smoking and unmoving. Sasuke put a thumb up and turned to retreat, prioritizing the villagers. The blond moved towards Sakura and leapt over her crouched form, a hand gliding overher back as both of his feet hammered into a third Pain. The four against two started with an intense staredown. The Rinnegan, the Rinnegan, Naruto had heard that before, but _where_?! His minds eye recalled it.

* * *

_Nine year old Izuku ran over holding a book. "Naruto, Naruto!" The blond looked up from his own scroll. "Dude I was jsut exploring the catacombs and I found this awesome dojutsu,"_

_"What? What's a dojutsu?" The book was planted softly against his head._

_"We found out about them yesterday dummy! They're the super weird eye abilities, like Sasuke_ Sharingan _!"_

_"Woah, I bet this one isn't as cool as Sasuke's though!"_

_"No way," Izuku shook his head "But it's still really weird, it gives the user some awesome powers, like they can push and pull with their mind, make their body like a machine, collect souls,"_

_"Creepy,"_

_"Yeah, and they can summon massive unkillable creatures, and absorb chakra and guess what?"_

_"What?"_

_"They can summon this thing called the King of Hell!"_

_"Sounds spooky, but if that's all the Rineegun can do,"_

_"Nuh uh, it's gonna be super hard to beat, cuz all the bodies share their vision, so they can dodge like super easy! And they can make this weird black metal that can block chakra!"_

_"What no way!" Naruto reached out for the book, "Lemme see!"_

* * *

Right, the four could all see what each other saw. That was a disadvantage, what paths were left? Shit he didn't keep track, double disadvantage. Well it was still four on two, the Rasen-Shuriken was his strongest attack for now and with the chakra control Sage mode gave him, he could make one in each hand. The issue was that the Pains would know to avoid it. Wait, the short haired one was here at the start! That meant he was the one that made the crater and pushed everything away, so that one was the body controlling the forces. That still left three bodies with one of five abilities but Naruto could make it work. A bulky Pain charged forwards, Naruto swept a fast punch, ducking under the strike the Pain aimed. Of course it avoided his strike too, but it didn't avoid the gale force wind generated by Nature energy formed next to his arm. The face caved in as Naruto pivoted and quickly buried a Rasengan into the body's back turning into a Rasen-Shuriken as he leapt away. Sakura joined his side, ready to fight. "Leave them to me, go and help the others,"

"No, Fox you're-," She disappeared in a flash of yellow.

"So you are the jinchuuriki? To think Tobi was right next to you," Naruto smirked under his mask, Pain thought that Obito was Tobi? That was rich. "Well it matters not, I shall extract the Nine Tails after I show you true pain!" The short haired Pain was definitely the leader as the other two got ready to charge as well. Several Shadow Clones appeared behind him and joined the charge to meet the Pains. A shuriken whizzed by his head and Izuku appeared.

"Heya Fox, just here for support, things are pretyy bad in the remains, they need all hands on deck out there so you're going to be flying solo here, think you can do it?"

"Course I can Midori, I already got three of these bastards,"

"Language," Yup that was Izuku, "Alright well," One Pain was quickly subdued by Izuku covering it in explosive tags and putting a Chidori through its chest. He disappeared in a flash of green and Naruto turned back to the last two Pains. The forces one was still stood, waiting for something. Naruto narrowed his eyes, a Rasengan to the face quickly stopped the last Pain. He charged forward to the Pain, not wanting to waste anymore time, when something blasted him backwards. With a grunt he rolled to his feet, Pain had a hand raised with a dark look on the face. Standing up straight the blond was blasted by a wall of chakra again. He ran forwards, leaping to the side, in hopes th attack would miss, only for it to strike his back and leave him on the floor. Pain pulled his hands together and held out his own arm. Naruto stared as a black rod materialised from his palm before yelling as the rod was driven through his hands. Pain did a similar thing to his shins, before driving a pair through his thighs and upper arms. Izuku appeared in the left of his vision and growled. "Bastard," Quickly attacking Pain and forcing the rogue-nin to turn around, once he had Naruto could feel the rods on his legs getting broken before a foot swept into his vision and broke the rods in his arms. They slowly drained the Nature energy from his body.

"Come on big guy, let's get you," The pinkette's voice was soft as she helped him to his feet.

"GAH!" Izuku's gasp forced them to look at the battling pair. Pain had used whatever the special ability was to pull Izuku towards him and impale a rod into his gut. "Almost felt that one," Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he smiled arrogantly. Pain dropped him onto the ground,

"Your resistance was useless,"

"Jokes on you fuckface, I was just the distraction," Izuku laughed as another rod grew from Pain's hand and was put through his sternum. "Oh, now you done fucked up," Pain turned back around to see Sakura supporting a barely standing Naruto. 

"Naruto, run! You need to get out of here, you're the only one that can fight him,"

"Then why am I running?!" Honestly he couldn't if he wanted to. Izuku's body was laying with the two rods embedded in it as Sakura ran to try and fight Pain. A lazy swipe of its arm and she was sent cartwheeling through the air, but she dragged herself to her feet and charged again, over and over. Naruto wanted to move, he had to move, but he couldn't, his body screamed out at him, pleading with him not to move. Sakura landed in the dirt again, he HAD to MOVE! His legs groaned under him as he began making his way forward, Sakura laying in the ground again, this time not getting up. Pain lifted another rod above his head, preparing to kill her. "YOU BASTARD!" Naruto roared, tails of chakra quickly evicting whatever little Nature energy was left in his body, absolute rage entered in its wake. Pain turned to recieve a chakra coated fist to the face, flying backwards. Sakura groaned before looking up to Naruto and her eyes widened in shock.

"N-Naruto?"

"I'm here babe, I've got some control of it Kurama's trying to help by cycling it through my system," Which was true, he could feel the Fox pushing and pulling the chakra in a loop, taking as much as he gave. It was unorthodox but it gave Naruto some degree of control. In seconds they were by Izuku and the rods removed.

"You took," The greenette coughed up blood and smiled weakly, "Your sweet time, Sakura, I'm going to need a little bit of a hand,"

"But, but medical ninjutsu is useless on you," The pinkette fell to her knees,

"It used to be harder than normal," His voice was strained as blood kept dribbled from the corner of his mouth, "But I've learned a lot in the last three years, including how to make myself more receptive to medical ninjutsu, didn't think I'd have to tell you like this," She laid her hands on his chest as a soft green glow emerged, "I can Raijin us into the shelter, but it's going to be a bumpy entrance,"

"That, that's fine," She whispered "Just don't die on me," Izuku smirked weakly,

"Like I'm going to let a papercut like this give the Shinigami a reason to stroke itself," He turned his head to cough up blood, "Naruto?"

"Yeah bro? Right here,"

"That's just a receiver," They disappeared in a flash of red speckled green light. The blond turned to Pain, the anger bubbling away under his skin. Pain glared at him,

"Finally, a,"

"Shut up," Naruto growled, the chakra burning away inside. Kurama was beginning to slow to loop down, meaning Naruto fought harder for control. He could see bright orange and yellow flickers of light from the bottom of his vision. Pain just glared at him before the two charged to meet in the middle. Their forearms collided powerfully as they locked eyes. 

"Now do you understand pain?" Naruto lodged his foot into Pain's gut, grabbing the arm and throwing the body. PAin rolled along the floor as Naruto appeared next to him in a flash.

"I've understood pain for a very long time bastard," A Rasengan collided with whatever jutsu created the barrier. "I know the pain of having nobody special, the pain of being alone, I know the pain of losing everything you care about, the pain of never being enough," The purple eyes widened, "I know damn well what pain is, and let me tell you," He began pushing against the force, making slight progress, "Whatever you think you're doing," His body leant forwards as power was pushed into his arm, "Ain't it!" The barrier finally gave and the Rasengan struck like a kunai, winding Pain. "This, this is just wanton destruction!"

"No," The ginger shinobi stood up, "This is retribution! This is what will force peace!"

"Forced peace is nothing but an illusion," The blond bit back as he deflected a punch, "No matter how many times you try force it, or make others surrender," His fist almost struck Pain's nose, until he body was pushed backwards, knocking his balance. "Your peace will be nothing but a temporary illusion,"

"And what?" Pain sneered "You think that people will ever understand each other? You think people will ever understand the pain you went through?" Naruto growled, the orange flickers began lasting longer.

"No,"

"Then,"

"And that's okay," His continuation silenced Pain, "Because if I forced them to understand I'd be no better than the ones that did it to me in the first place," He swept an arm around him, "Look Pain, at all the destruction you caused, are you proud? Do you feel vindicated now?!"

"I do what I must to create temporary peace, because man will always start war, my home Amegakure, was destroyed over and over in the last War, not because we fought, but because our home was the battle ground,"

"So that makes destroying my home okay?" Another Rasengan, "You justify destroying my home, trying to kill my friends and family but refuse to allow anyone else the same judgement?" His eyes narrowed at Pain, "Tell me Pain, what makes you better than the ones who destroyed your home?"

"I-" THe speech was cut off as Naruto warped to the body, his Rasegan pass through the chest and whirling slightly in front of Pain.

"It doesn't," A snarl as Naruto relaxed his hand, the Rasengan shrinking away. The body slumped over to the floor and Naruto looked at it fall. 

_"That's just a reciever,"_

Izuku's voice was clear in his mind. How could a body be a reciever? The black piercings stood out to the blond, who walked over, quickly taking one. It practically hummed with chakra. Pain had made them from his hands, so it most likely was just molded chakra. Biting his lip Naruto lifted the small material to his own skin, pressing it into his muscle. Now that he concentrated on it, he could feel the connection to something, _someone_. Closing his eyes he began following the connection, built up by the rods. It led miles away, to a distante tower in a ruined land. He ran in that direction before anyone could tell.

The wall crumbled to paper. "So you found me, Naruto Uzumaki," He pulled off the mask, it was useless now anyway. Before him man with long red hair stood in something akin to a mechanical walker, with small spots of the metal dotting his chest and numerous of the black rods seemingly buried in his back. "Come to kill me?"

"No," He spoke as a blue haired woman stepped between the two, "I just wanted to talk, Nagato Uzumaki," They both stared at the blond, "Yeah, I know who you are, because Jiraiya spoke often of his three students, Yahiko, Nagato and Konan, he told me that I reminded him of both Yahiko and you, with my indomitable optimism, he said that the Uzumaki he meets are always special, my mother and I because we house Kurama and you because of the Rinnegan, but he never spoke much about it, just that you were the one to use it and given the rarity, I figured out on my way here that even if your death was rumored, it was probably faked, since no-one could withstand both Rinnegan, so implanting them was out,"

"You're smart,"

"And? Brains has nothing if brawn can't back it up," Taking a deep breath he sighed "But brawn is tryanny if brain doesn't reign it in, you almost killed Jiraiya, Orochimaru too,"

"Yes, they only got away because the snake summoned something that gave them time to be rescued," Naruto nodded, remembering how Izuku had mentioned they were recieving medical attention in Konoha, "They knew how my Rinnegan worked, they enough to win, so I stepped up my plans, I destroyed Konoha to prevent that, because if they couldn't give the knowledge, you'd be fighting at a disadvantage,"

"Except I wasn't, my adopted brother Izuku, he found information about the Rinnegan when we were littler, I had forgotten all about it until you declared you wielded it," He admitted, "Once I was able to remember the fact you could share vision I was able to surprise you with some Nature energy control and using blindspots to aid me," Nagato simply remained silent, "Y'know I've been hurt too, I've gone through things you wouldn't believe, for starters, I'm an orphan too, never knew my parents, still don't, I know their names and their faces sure but I don't know _them_ , because I lost them the night I was born, Kurama being sealed inside of me the same night, after the dust settled, everytone was quick to blame the newborn kid, who had the fox forced into him, it was his fault, because blaming me was better than blaming no-one," Sighing wisfully Naruto waved a hand, "I lost my two senseis, the first people who took care of me properly, they fed me, taught me, trained me, cared about me, and they were only a few years older than I was, one faked his suicide while the other was forced to kill his own clan entirely, behind it was the same man that caused the events that took my parents," He clenched his trembling fists, "And then my brother was the one to step up, the one to take care of me because I was still so weak, protected me from bullies, fought my battles because I just couldn't, and you almost killed him in front of me, claiming the actions were those of peace when he was one to defend the weak," His spit seemed to offend the blue haired woman, "You are just a hypocrite trying to excuse your actions with fake nobility, you fight hatred with hatred and call yourself a saviour,"

"And you suppose talking about our issues will solve everything?"

"Not everything, there are people that need to be stopped, people that seek to divide and conquer, so it is important for us to instead find who is dividing us and unite against them,"

"Who is this mysterious divider?"

Danzo Shimura, he has been responsible for almost every travesty in the world, he was even meddling with Amegakure according to the records in the catacombs, once we eliminate him and whoever is working with him in the shadows," Naruto nodded "We will bring about peace," There was footsteps behind them as a winded Izuku appeared in the opening, leaning against the wall and panting.

"You ever, *pant* make me, *pant* move that fast *pant* again *pant* I will turn *pant* your ass into shoes!" He pointed a threatening finger at Naruto, before putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Izuku? But you should be,"

"Resting? Yeah, Sakura did her best but it's going to scar, otherwise I'm good right now, one of her fastest patients," Something he should probably not boast about. "Alright well, whatever, who's that?"

"Nagato, remember him from Jiraiya,"

"Yes, so I'm guessing the blue haired is Konan?" She nodded "What happened to Yahiko?" Silence, "Ah, my condolences, I understand losing somebody hurts,"

"What are you doing here?"

"Me? Not much, I've come to get him home, we have a lot of rebuilding to do, fortunately we had no casualties, just a lot of injuries," He levelled an eye at Nagato, "In any other life, in another time, if we met you before this, I would've offered you a place in our returning clan Nagato, but after what you've done to the village, to the people, in your misguided charge of justice, I don't think you'd fit in well,"

"I understand your sentiments Uzumaki,"

"Izuku,"

"Izuku," Nagato nodded "Is there one thing I can ask you to do for me?" Both boys nodded, "You can probably tell that I am dying, my death is almost imminent, there are people that would use my eyes in far worse ways than I have, if you can find it to grant this request, can you guard my eyes for me?" 

"Nagato?!" Konan whirled around to him "Are you?"

"Naruto defeated all Six paths and I could feel Izuku was held back during the fight in which I wounded him," _That_ was news to Naruto, who snapped his head around to the greenette.

"I didn't have time to take off my wieghts," Of course he was wearing those, he never took the things off. "I don't sleep with them on," 

"Oh go fuck yourself," Naruto grumbled, folding his arms, "Nagato if you are trusting this to us, then we will guard your eyes against everything there is," Katsuki blipped into existence, cuffing Izuku around the back of the head.

"Next time a medic tells you to stay still, stay fucking still! Do you even remember what they wanted to tell him?"

"Uh tell me what?"

"During your fight," Katsuki directed to him, "While everyone was moving rubble and sorting through it all, ROOT came in,"

"They took Kabuto,"

* * *

"We really must stop meeting like this," Momo startled as the voice spoke from the darkness around her, "Might I ask why you aren't in the party? It is your estate," True, Momo sighed, it was supposed to be a party for her sixteenth birthday. She didn't feel much like celebrating though, so she had snuck out to the balcony off the dining hall where the festivities were taking place. The figure appeared in a swirl of the wind stood on the railing in front of her, she gazed at him before asking,

"What brings you to the area?"

"Classified," Momo raised an eyebrow, "A civilian in the next suburb decided to go chasing down some dealers I was tailing, that is definitely classified to you," She snorted "Yeah no, anyway, I caught her doing it last night and she ended up running almost three laps of Musutafu before walking another half and deciding to go home, tonight I saved her from getting killed,"

"How?" He disappeared in front of her.

"Same way I breath fire or walk up walls, or even grow trees from solid concrete, trade secret," Now he was behind her, he took two paces and stood beside her. "I brought her home and saw the lights on my way past, I figured I may as well check for you to make sure you hadn't wondered off again," She shivered momentarily.

"Do I finally get a name from you?"

"Kage," He pulled out a white mask from his cloak.

"Like the Twin Kages that have been?"

"The very same, my partner had to go home though, doesn't realize I'm in both places," The mask slipped onto his face and she took it in. The eyes were highlighted with black and the kanji 緑, meaning green, was painted delicately in, well, dark green down the centre. Momo took a moment to admire the caligraphy, thin but heavy brusk strokes left the majority of the mask moonlight white while the decorations stood out when seen directly. She shivered again and this time Kage lifted a hand from his cloak, undoing a clasp by his neck before swirling the cape from his shoulders and around hers. With the cloak gone she could now see his body, or at least she tried to, even with the last remnants of the light braking down over them his body was covered in shadows, almost as if they were clinging to him. He made a quiet noise that sounded almost impressed as he redid the clasp, leaving the cloak around Momo.

"How long has it been since you saved me?" She knew, she just wanted to see if he did.

"Exactly? Three weeks and a day, you were the last time I was able to come here before going home," That oddly made her feel a tiny bit special. "Do you still have the item I gave you?"

"The kunai?" Obviously she hadn't thrown it out, but she had been wracking her brain over if for so long that it hurt to think about. "I think you gave me a broken one,"

"I couldn't give you a sharp blade when you don't know how to use it,"

"That's not what I meant,"

"I know, but it's my answer,"

"Then how do I use it? I've tried doing what you said, imaging it with my quirk but," Well, Momo now had a small armoury of kunai.

"I said to try and push your quirk into it," Kage leant on the railing his hand moving to his waist, "Because when you do, it means I'll be able to be at your side the moment you need me," His hand came up to hold another kunai, this didn't have shadows clinging to it. "Essentially what I am saying is for you to do something like this," Something like a blue flame gathered around his hand and stretched out to the kunai, "Just with less visible progress,"

"It is a quirk?"

"No, it is a skill, that I acquired after many, many days working on it, until I got it perfectly," Momo clutched the inside of the cloak, thinking. "Now I think it's time you answered by original question, what brings you out here?"

"Oh, I, I just don't feel like celebrating, my birthday," She added hurriedly "I just turned sixteen,"

"Ah, welcome to the club," Kage nodded "I turned sixteen a few months ago," Wait what?! "But this year I didn't really get to celebrate it, not like I normally do with my brother or best friend, no for the last three years I've celebrated with my sensei and my partner, the first year was really difficult, didn't have any idea what to expect and just felt super homesick," He tapped the kunai on the railing, "Word to the wise, enjoy it, even if you aren't feeling in the mood to celebrate, just enjoy their company, who knows when you'll have it again,"

"Oddly, sage like of you," He chuckled,

"Oh please, I'm no Sage yet," Putting the kunai away he took a deep breath, "Right, I think it's time you went back inside, they'll be missing you about now," Momo began reaching for the clasp, he raised a hand gently, "Keep it, I have another," He hopped onto the railing, and crouched.

"Wait," She grabbed his wrist, "Thank you, for this and, saving me, back then," Kage stood up and she could feel the warmth of his smile.

"You are most very welcome young Miss," Leaning backwards, he fell off the railing, Momo panicked and looked out over to see.

Falling leaves.

Smiling softly to herself she walked back towards the light of the party, as she opened the door people came up to her. "Sorry, I just wanted some fresh air, I'm actually quite tired of the dancing, could we play a game instead? Oh the cloak? Just something I had laying around for the cold, just let me put it away," Quickly making her way to her room she waited until she was out of sight to pull up the hood. It smelt of trees and rivers and damp grass, it smelt of _him_. And as she held it on her shoulders.

She felt _safe_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, I'm gonna need you to really be honest here,  
> Was this one any good? I know that the fight with Pain seems a bit, meh but honestly the actual fight seemed a bit cartoony towards the end so... I tried. Might try a rewrite later.  
> Also do you guys want the flashes to BNHA to be longer or shorter? TBH I'm treating each of them as part of a mini-prologue that is definitely not in chronological order. Should I have them focus less on 'Kage'?  
> Please don't be hesitant to comment what you think, everything helps. Once again  
> This is Phanom  
> Fading out


	21. Operation: Clean up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The compound was very neat. Naruto huffed in annoyance.
> 
> "This isn't good,"
> 
> "But it's exactly what we need,"

They stood in the makeshift Hokage office as Tsunade sat on a cushion on the other side of the table. Izuku scratched at his chest idly. Naruto watched, the image of his still bloody body not leaving his mind. The others shared his sentiment as they all winced, ready to help him should he,

"I'm not going to collapse," He grumbled, the annoyance visible on his face. Since the 'Destruction of Konoha' as the greater population dubbed it. rebuilding had been steady and Izuku had been under 'house arrest' which really just meant he was stuck walking around the area forbidden from doing anything by Tsunade herself. The rest of the group had been assigned jobs and sent to work rebuilding. Katsuki began using Wood Style to quickly produce trees. Sasuke had been left with a large sharp sword and many tree trunks, Tsunade's last words to him were, _"Go buck wild,"_ at which point he'd grinned evilly and disappeared. Sakura had been left in charge of healing the wounded while also trying to learn Wood Style from Izuku. Naruto had made up the bulk of the workforce, his army of Shadow Clones able to work on houses by themselves. Itachi, Shisui and Kakashi had been assigned an escort mission to help a mysterious group that would greatly help the rebuilding process, Suna had even offered to send back Hinata with some ninja to help but Tsunade had declined. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were still recovering in the makeshift hospital. Tayuya, her old team, Temari, Suigetsu and Jugo had all gone out to try and track Kabuto. Even Ino had helped, offering to join in the food division, providing meals through the day. Naruto grimaced, realizing that of course Izuku would be sour, he'd watched almost the entire village work and been prevented from helping, even though he claimed he was fine. "It was two stab wounds,"

"With chakra blocking poles," Tsunade quipped,

"In your gut and between your lungs," Sakura added. Izuku huffed and folded his arms, mumbling about 'Unfairness' and 'I am a shinobi' Sasuke sighed and shook his head. Katsuki just groaned and looked up.

"Great, Midoriya is back,"

"What?"

"That's what I've come to call this state of Izuku," He waved a hand carelessly at the greenette, "Since both of us matured pretty fast, Izuku actually having to act like the adult when he was seven," Sakura sucked on her teeth "Sometimes he'll just go back to being a kid, complaining about things he doesn't want to do, being really hard to compromise with, wants a lot of breaks, really impatient, y'know like a kid," Sasuke snorted as Naruto tried quelling his laughter, "You'd be surprised how much he appeared when you two aren't there needing an adult," Now it was Sakura's turn to giggle as Naruto and Sasuke balked. Tsunade coughed for their attention,

"Right brats," She announced "You're getting a mission,"

"'Bout time,"

"A team cleaning the damage around the Hokage monument found a hidden door on the far side of the cliff, I want you all to investigate it," Naruto hummed,

"Probably ROOT headquarters before they fled," Izuku straightened his arms, "Squad or team?"

"Squad, this needs to be as covert as possible," The five nodded stoically before a knock sounded from the door.

"Lady Hokage?" The door opened and Itachi's head tilted in, "We have returned, the elected leader wishes to speak with you," Tsunade nodded and the door opened wider, three figures walked into the room.

"Tazuna?" Naruto raised his eyebrows, "Is that you?"

"Naruto-boy?" The gruff old man stared "Sasuke-boy, Izuku-boy? Sakura?" He smiled "You've all gotten so tall,"

"Izuku-nii? Naruto-nii?"

"Inari?" Izuku looked at the pre-teen, 

"Tsunami?" Sakura smiled lifting her hands up.

"Katsuki?" The ash blond muttered, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Who's the new boy?" Tazuna grunted, Katsuki bowed,

"Katsuki Uzumaki, a pleasure to meet you,"

"Another brother?" The bespectacled man raised an eyebrow, "Polite too,"

"Adopted as well," Naruto hummed, "But he's still a brother, you guys are helping with repairs?"

"We got as many able bodies as we could,"

"You guys didn't need to,"

"You saved the whole Land, this is the least we could do," Tsunami smiled "We have chefs, builders, planners the lot,"

"We're mainly here to discuss payment," Tazuna rubbed the back of his head, "As you know we of the Land of Waves don't have a Daimyo, nor a hidden village to defend us,"

"Go on,"

"A vote was held by the council of the land for the general public, and," He cuckled awkwardly, "The Land of Waves wishes to cease existing,"

"Eh?"

"We the people of the Land of the Waves, wish to become part of the Land of Fire," Everyone gaped.

The five all peered into the doorway, "Why is this a good idea?" Sasuke moaned as they leant back into the light. All five were dressed in their ANBU gear with their masks on the sides of their heads for the momment.

"Be quiet Raven," Katsuki grumbled "The quicker we get in the quicker we can get out,"

"As great as that idea is Embers," Sakura sighed "Do we really have to go into the deep dark abandoned lair of a murderous world threatening organization?"

"Yes," Izuku answered flatly, "Because the five of us _scare_ that murderous world threatening organization,"

"Fucking wonderful," Naruto rolled his eyes

"Language," All five called out automatically, "Okay, stop doing that," Izuku grunted, "The masks have a seal that helps increase your vision in the dark anyway," The five all shifted their masks over their faces in synchrony. "Alright, down into the deep dark down deep dark," Izuku led the line with Naruto behind him, Sakura behind him and then Sasuke with Katsuki bringing up the rear. As standard procedure for single file movement, Katsuki walked backwards with Sasuke's hand on his shoulder. Sakura remained in the middle since she was the medic, and Izuku led as Captain. They walked for what felt like miles until they reached a flight of stairs. "Wall," Izuku led them up onto the wall before angling to follow the stairs. This meant Katsuki could keep watching their back without fear of tripping up the stairs. They continued to rise higher and higher until they reached a door. By this time their eyes had adjusted to the dark, and with the seals in the masks aiding them, they were able to clearly see each other and the area around them. Izuku raised his closed fist and the line stopped. Watching the door, he stepped aside and let Naruto begin picking the lock. It took several minutes since obviously the lock was beyond complex. Once done, the door was opened silently and they moved into the room quickly, forming a defensive ring. They scanned their surroundings and, upon finding no threats, turned to look at each other. Izuku pointed two fingers at Katsuki and Sasuke before holding up three fingers and dragged a finger from his other hand across them, _power_ , he jabbed a thumb at himself and dragged it below his chin _hostiles_ , he pointed to Sakura and Naruto before spinning his index in a circle and sticking his thumb out _safe room_. He tapped the two fingers against the back of his other open hand, _five minutes_. Keeping his fingers against his had he put his fingers down and left his thumb up _clear?_ The four nodded and he, Sasuke and Katsuki melted into the shadows. Sakura turned to Naruto and nodded, they looked around the room first, there was a door on each wall, two on the one facing the entrance. They silently checked each room, the first was just another corridor, the second was something akin to a library, great, the records room, the third was yet another hall. The fourth however appeared to be some sort of office with a desk positioned in roughly the same place the Hokage desk was in the old office. In fact, looking around the room revealed it to be almost identical to the old Hokage office.

"Wanted to be Hokage so badly he made his own little office," Naruto snorted as they began checking the room for traps and secret entrances. He tilted a large filing cabinet to discover a hole big enough to crawl down. "Petal, tunnel," Sakura nodded and walked over, putting a hand just below the hole, dirtrapidly rushed from the dark to block the tunnel as far as Sakura could sense it. Once it was done he dropped the cabinet back in place silently. Nothing was hidden below the desk and neither of them could find any seals around the room. Gently the light in the middle of the ceiling flickered to life, giving a soft humming glow. Naruto looked over to Sakura and nodded, he began walking to the doorway. She would stay in the room as guard, making sure there was absolutely nothing in there and keeping it safe while he would go collect the others. He opened the door and stepped out silently to find the others arriving back too. He held up a flat hand and turned it sideways, dropping his pinkie and ring finger, the others stopped as he spun his wrist to point at his left shoulder. His ANBU tattoo sat there exposed due to the uniform. Turning it towards the group he pushed his chakra into it. It was a form of identification in the ANBU, the tattoo ink had a special compound that made it change colour when exposed to chakra. The colour was selected by the individual before the tattoo was given. Naruto's glowed a yellow-ish orange. Izuku nodded and turned his shoulder towards Naruto, his tattoo glowed dark green. Sasuke's glowed black and Katsuki's glowed a red-orange. The bright blond nodded and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder before chopping the air with his hand. _Let's move_. Everyone nodded to him and they drew closer to the door. Sakura's mask peered through the window, Naruto showed his shoulder again, the other boys quickly following suit. Sakura opened the door as her shoulder glowed a soft pink. Once the door was closed their masks were pulled off. 

"Power active, lighting and air filtering are the only processes," Sasuke summed up

"No hostiles in the area," Izuku nodded

"Saferoom set, barricade ready," Sakura held up a thumb. Naruto pushed the large cabinet in front of the door, "Barricade set Captain,"

"Good, I located the documents room, all five of us will need to search it, Fox, Raven, I want a Shadow Clone from you," Sasuke and he nodded before a copy puffed into existence, Izuku did the same. "We will all come from a different direction, Petal South,"

"Hai,"

"Fox One, West,"

"Understood,"

"Raven One, North, I will come from East,"

"Roger,"

"Embers, South West, Fox Two South East, Raven Two North West, Midori, North East," The four nodded, everyone pulling their masks back on, "We meet in the centre of the room, mobilize," Sakura's copy puffed into existence as they left the room, sealing the barricade and keeping guard.

The compound was very neat, he had to give them credit for it. Each folder was perfectly kept, well organized with neat handwriting. Naruto huffed in annoyance as he waited, he'd done his route easily with Shadow Clones, each reading a file before dispelling. Then he'd summon another Shadow Clone that would read another file. An Izuku met him and nodded, the shoulder glowing dark green, "Midori-Two reporting in," Naruto nodded to the now identified Izu-clone. "I'll await Captains return before dispelling,"

"Good idea, anything useful?"

"No, mission after mission failed due to ROOT having to flee Konoha, many members dropped or killed by other members," Naruto shook his head, Danzo was a sick man but it took another level of disgusting to kill your own men so you can escape. "Anyone else arrive yet?"

"Not yet, I was first done," He tapped his foot, "But waiting here was getting boring,"

"I understand, the others are probably going as fast as they can," Izu-clone sighed, "Just because we didn't find anything doesn't mean they didn't," He held up a file, "But I did come across this one, about Orochimaru being decieved into joining and then the things Danzo forced him to do," Naruto eyed it warily, "A little gift for Tsunade, with this she'll be able to fully pardon Orochimaru and declare ROOT an open enemy, as well as Danzo a formal traitor,"

"Fucking finally,"

"Language," They both snapped, "Seriously, stop it," Izu-clone glared at him in a way that spoke for all Izukus,

"Then stop saying it," 

"Never," Standing in silence for a minute he huffed in annoyance,

"How long is it going to take them?" Izu-clone shrugged, 

"No idea, Rock-Paper-Scissors?" They each held up a fist and began playing. It took all of two rounds before Katsuki appeared, 

"Embers checking in," His shoulder glowed.

"Fox One and Midori-Two present," Naruto greeted "Anything?" Katsuki shook his had,

"Not a damn thing," He grumbled "Danzo either sent out a hundred thousand missions or created a bunch of fake records before he fled, everything ended in failure," Izu-clond nodded in understanding, Naruto just grumbled. Shortly after Sasuke joined the group, his shoulder glowing black before the others' all glowed as well. The Naru-clone landed and nodded before dismissing himself, memories flooded Naruto's vision and he absolved to let Kurama organise them, something for him to do.

 **'Too kind kit'** The giant orange fox grumbled

'At least I'm giving you something to do' Naruto argued as Izuku landed, his shoulder glowing like the rest. Izu-clone nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Izuku slammed his fist on the nearest stand in frustration.

"Kabuto, you bastard," He spat.

"Captain!" Sakura came up to them, her shoulder glowing pink. "Captain, I found this," She handed Izuku a folder, "It's a report of Kurama's attack and how it happened," They heard Izuku's _Sharingan_ activate, presumably to allow him to remember it perfectly as he read it. It was passed along the group, Katsuki got it first and read it quickly before handing it to Naruto, who's eyes raced over it. Danzo had planned the incident to allow him to take the jinchuuriki and train them into a weapon? ROOT had knowledge that his mother was the previous jinchuuriki and her seal would weaken in childbirth. They planned to take whoever was sacrificed as jinchuuriki and turn them into an emotionless underling that would help Danzo become Hokage. After that were mentions of the idea of capturing the other jinchuriki and extracting the Tailed Beasts to reseal them into a loyal ROOT agent. "After several pages they begin to mention a Madara Uchiha who helped distract Lord Fourth while Kurama was controlled into attacking the village," The Sasu-clone landed and shook his head before handing a file to Sasuke and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"This, this isn't good," Sasuke muttered as he opened the file, "My clone found reports for the Uchiha massacre, whoever this Madara was, he also helped Itachi destroy the clan," The report was handed to Izuku again, "It mentions how Itachi bartered to do it on the sole deal I was to be left alive and cared for," Izuku handed the reports back around.

"Alright, we got what we came for, are we sure there is nothing useful or important here?" 

"Yes Captain," The group chorused,

"Wonderful get to the exit, Raven stay with me," The five reached the door and left it open, "Petal go to the safe room and get your Shadow Clone to undo the barriers, then open the door and leave it open, Embers, Fox, do the same with the other doors then get to the stairs," The blonds nodded and walked to one of the other two doors, opening them before walkign back to the door they entered from. Izuku summoned several clones and sent them down both corridors. Naruto watched as he and Sasuke stood in the doorway, the other three now behind them. "Building's clear," He muttered as they both took a deep breath.

"Fire Release, Hellish Burning Dragon jutsu," Both spewed incredible flames that spiraled together before it _roared_ and began tearing through the building.

"Move!" Izuku commanded, the four ahead turned and ran as he slamemd the door shut behind them.

"Area searched, cleared and destroyed Lady Hokage," Izuku spoke as the five knelt in her office. "We found three files," Sakura, Sasuke and Izuku all handed her a brown folder. "One relates to Kurama's attack, one to the Uchiha massacre and the last to Orochimaru's forced actions," Tsunade nodded "Kabuto was a double agent, even under Orochimaru, he was assigned to learn all the Sannin knew and then kill him, so that they could access the Reanimation Jutsu, reasons unknown,"

"Good job Squad Seven, I shall call back the search party immediately, as I know doubt Kabuto wll be found, Orochimaru will be heartbroken," She added quietly. "Well now your mission is complete you are dismissed, we don't have anything else for you to do, so go out and aid building again," The five nodded and in a big _pwoomf_ all stood in their casual attire again. "Izuku, remain here, I am going to examine your scars and see if your body had properly healed,"

"As you wish Hokage-sama," Naruto just sighed as he left the office.

"Alright, so who's going where?" He asked the other three,

"Well, I'm needed at the medical tents again," Sakura smiled to him

"I saw they were running low on trees as we returned," Katsuki shrugged

"Same here so I need to go and slice some timber," Sasuke nodded, a small smile on his face. Naruto stepped closer to Sakura, who grabbed his hand.

"Why don't you go help Ino at the kitchens?" She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, "Then you guys can come see me?" His arm lifted up and over her head, wrapping around her shoulders while still holding her hand.

"That," He kissed the top of her head gently "Sounds like a brilliant idea, I'll drop you off at the tents and make my way over, sound good?"

"Uh, yeah?" With a smile she jumped up into his arms in a bridal carry. "Save my feet the walk," Naruto laughed heartily before Sasuke tapped his shoulder,

"If it ain't too much trouble, stud," He smirked teasingly, "Can we talk later? I need help with something,"

"Oh, sure, yeah, whatever you need man,"

"Awesome, thanks bro," Sasuke nodded and began to walk away with Katsuki.

"Wonder what that was about?" Sakura shrugged in his arms before draping hers around his neck. He grinned down to her, "Ah well, it can't be anything world-ending," They moved through the village in a flash of yellow.

Their house now constituted of several huts built together. Some walls had been turned into doors to create the semblance of a floorplan. It wasn't much but it was a place to sleep. Naruto really didn't mind it, the only thing he took umbridge with, was the fact that he'd literally finished paying off the last house the day before Pain destroyed it. Reflecting he realized if that was the biggest issue after all that had happened, he was relatively going good. He and Ino walked into the room made from the largest hut, it was the communal space that lead to every bedroom. In the centre sat a large cooking pot. Sakura was starting to stack logs underneath it when they arrived. "Hey guys," She smiled softly as the two sat down next to her, Naruto quickly putting his free arm around her. "How'd the dinner rush go?"

"Murderous," Ino complained, "We had a thousand people wanting a thousand dishes and,"

"We had maybe twenty people waiting in line at the worst time but there was a line the entire time," Naruto shook his head at her hyperbole. "It was hectic but not 'kill me' stressful," Sakura hummed,

"That's good, at least the time passed quick right?"

"Yeah, so we could get back to you quicker," He kissed her temple before turning and doing the same to Ino. "Any developments in the medical tents?"

"Asuma woke up,"

"Really? That's fantastic!"

"Tsunade has forbidden him from even leaving the tents, Kurenai has been tasked with making sure he doesn't, since she appears to be the only one he listens to,"

"I told you they were a thing," Ino grinned before turnign her attention to the large pot, "So what we cooking?"

"Just making some curry is all," Sakura smiled "We may need to go without rice, since nobody has managed to find a workign rice cooker,"

"Eh, your curry is always the best no matter what," Naruto squeezed her against him, making her giggle lightly. "So what do we need to do?"

"Nothing, you two have been cooking almost all day, it's my turn," Sakura tried to stand up, Ino and Naruto shared a smirk and the pinkette was pulled back down. Laid across both of their laps.

"Now now," Ino smiled "You've been in the medical tent just as long, we can't leave everything to you," She hummed and tried to sit up, only for both blonds to hold her down.

"Guys, c'mon I need to get dinner done," 

"Why you though? Itachi or Izuku or anyone else can do it,"

"They aren't here right now though and I'm hungry," She frowned, "So I'm,"

"We're making dinner," Naruto grinned, using a quick fire jutsu to set the wood alight. Ino just sighed and conceded, they let her sit up slowly. Sakura began measuring ingredients while Naruto kept the fire going and stirring as Ino added more ingredients in.

  
The door was kicked in as a voice proudly declared, "You may bow to me peasants!" Katsuki stood in the doorway holding what appeared to be, "A functioning rice cooker! I bring you the gift you have so longingly sought!" Izuku chopped the back of his head from behind him. "Alright so, when are we going to use this bad boy?"

"Tonight, get it going now so it's done in time for the curry," Sakura waved an arm in a direction, "Get Sasuke to power it when he can,"

"Got it," The ravenette walked in behind Izuku, "'Learn Chidori' they said, 'it'll be awesome in battle' they said, assholes using me as a battery," He grumbled as he held the plug of the cooker, activating his lightning jutsu to bring the machine to life. Shisui and Itachi appeared at the door moments later, Kakashi tailing them, the trio had been on guard duty, ready if an attack happened while Konoha was rebuilding. All three seemed haggard and barely able to stay on their feet. Sakura quickly got them sat down around the pot, chiding them on not wearing more clothing in the cold. Once they were sat down Tsunade appeared, supporting both of the other Sannin gently.

"They're okay, just healing for a while,"

"Chakra exhasution," Jiraiya complained "Is a pain in the ass," The blonde and her student held the men sit, making sure they weren't going to pass out anytime soon. Afterwards Tsunade pulled out a scroll and laid it on the floor in front of them. A large bottle of Sake and several cups appeared in smoke. Sakura quickly chided her on her drinking habits before Izuku stepped in and took the Sake away, scolding Tsunade for bringing alcohol into a minor's house. He replaced it with a large scrolle that unsealed to reveal ingredients for hot chocolate. Tsunade quickly got over her funk and prepped the drinks with the heat from the large fire. Jiraiya sleeply thanked her gently kissing her cheek, causing the blonde to blush lightly. Orochimaru thanked her with his head on her shoulder lloking happily up to her. Naruto saw Sakura discreetly hand Izuku a stack of Ryo. It wasn't long before Shizune arrived with Tayuya and Temari, searching for Tsunade about the cancellation of their mission.

"Suigetsu, Jugo and the others didn't feel like they had reason to be here," Temari mumbled, Tayuya just seemed disheartened, "Not after we failed the mission,"

"The mission is called off," Tsunade shook her head, "We found documents stating the Kabuto was with ROOT the entire time, his true mission being to gather all the knowledge Orochimaru had before killing him and returning to ROOT, we won't chase the traitor who knows the surface of his abilities," Tayuya looked close to tears and slowly walked over to Sasuke, plopping down next to him and leaning on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her and rubbed her arm gently. Kakashi grunted as he got up and walked over to the teen, taking the plug and starting his own Chidori. With a tilt of his head he told Sasuke to go sit closer to the fire. Slowly the teens shuffled over and Tayuya leant more onto Sasuke. Temari dropped down the other side of him and rested her head in her hands. He tentatively reached out to rub her back. Shizune had sat down next to Tsunade and kept checking on the two male Sannin. Izuku had curiously disappeared until there was a knock at the door. Suigetsu was stood there fidgeting.

"Uh, Izuku brought me here? Said he'd get the others as well," Jugo appeared in a green flash, taking in his surroundings in a panic before calming down and shifting uncomfortably "He nab you too?"

"He just appeared and said, see you there," Jugo nodded, in the next second there was a larger green flash and Izuku was stood with the three from Tayuya's squad.

"This is Jirobo," Izuku introduced the man with three strips of orange hair who seemed to find his own feet incredible, "Kidomaru," The man with four arms fidgeted with all four hands while nervously looking away "And Sakon," The pale blue haired man couldn't look directly at Naruto, "They were on the team that hunted for the traitor,"

"Kabuto isn't,"

"He was, he was working for ROOT, he was going to kill Orochimaru after learning everything he could and steal the knowledge," Tayuya spoke from the pot. Naruto stood out the way of the door and gestured for them to come inside, they did so nervously and shyly introducing themselves, sitting with Temari and Tayuya or the other side of Orochimaru. Soon enough they were able to relax and laugh with the others, everyone swapping stories and telling jokes. The place was alive with high spirits. Sasuke got up and walked over to Naruto and Izuku.

"It's amazing isn't it?" Izuku mused

"What?"

"That," He nodded his head to the room, "Is all because of us," Naruto beamed, putting an arm around Izuku and an arm around Sasuke.

"Yeah it is isn't it?" In his mind he could vividly remember the nights when the three of them would cook together, Naruto trying to make instant ramen while Izuku began fixing whatever Sasuke did. He could see Sakura and Ino shyly asking to help before weeks later striding in and putting on aprons. He could hear Itachi and Izuku chat as they cooked, loading up Sasuke and Naruto with plate after plate for the large group and then Shisui helping out after he revealed his sight. Naruto remembered poker nights, when the _Sharigan_ users would play their own game or be heavily watched to mak sure they didn't cheat. The laughter and joy that this group generated, no matter the time of day. Clutching the boys in his arms he hugged them tightly. "Thank you guys," He allowed himself this moment, to let the secret fear of being left flow out of him. He gave himself this moment to let the weights of loneliness truly drop away, crying only a little. Both boys hugged him while embracing the other too.

"Hey it was your relentless optimism that let us begin doing this," There was another knock at the door, Naruto curiously opened it to find Grampa Third stood in the doorway.

"I heard there was a commotion," He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, there is Grampa, we need you in here to help sort it out," Izuku grinned

"Oh I couldn't possibly impose,"

"No Grampa," Naruto smiled "We insist, come on in, get comfy, you haven't had dinner with us in ages," The old man smiled warmly and gently made his way in, slowly lowering himself among his students. The blond stared into the room again, beaming. As Tsunade handed Grampa a hot chocolate, and Shisui used a rubber band to ping paper at Kakashi, as Sakura absentmindedly stirred the pot and Tayuya taught a few how to play the flute, Naruto smiled. He'd found it, after all these years, all this time, here it was, the very thing he had longed for since before he'd met Izuku and Sasuke.

Here was his _family_. 

And goddammit did he love them all.

The three all seemed to share the sentiment as they took deep breaths before they stepped forwards. As they did so, a thought struck him.

"We're going to need a bigger table,"

* * *

Mina crept silently, she didn't know why she was doing this. In fact she questioned her own sanity because not only did she not know why, she didn't even question why. The alleys were dark and honestly anything could be hidden anywhere. Her body just kept moving though, regardless of how shitless she was scared. "Oh my god I'm going to get killed," She whispered, chiding herself, yet her body _kept moving_. It wasn't even like she was close to home, she'd just _decided_ to go on a walk after dinner and told her parents not to worry if she was home late, now she was half a city away and her legs _kept fucking going_. There was a snicker behind her and several bodies began moving. "Ohh god, this is it," She whispered, "I'm going to get killed in an alley and no-one's going to,"

"Y'know, after so many stories, I'd think people would learn _not_ to go exploring alleyways, unarmed, untrained, alon3 and in the dead of night," _That_ voice spoke from in front of her as she kept walking forwards. Until she bumped into a wall of a body and an arm was pulled around her shoulders, "Ladies, go about your business, forget you saw us, it'll work out better for you," One cackled,

"Ooh, looks like we found a toy!" They all laughed, "We'll make real good use of you once we kill the bitch boy!" There was a heavy sigh and Mina found her self put behind him.

"I should've learned by now, night time crawlers aren't going to listen to me," His body shifted as a hand reached his face and the cloak around his body was suddenly whipped off him into the wind. Mina squinted at him but again his body seemed covered in shadows. "You might want to look away MIss Ashido," No, she wanted to see this. The figure pulled out a weapon like the one he'd given her those nights ago and threw it at the group. They all cried and tried to dodge. Until in a twin flash of green light the figure was amongst the women in the air. A quick rotation of his body and he lashed out with all four limbs, striking four different heads, the bodies crumpled. The last woman stepped backwards as the figure disappeared again. This time in a swirl of cold air and leaves. "Boo," He whispered before his arm snapped against the woman's neck, knocking her out immediately. Rope appeared from, somewhere as they tied the group together. Holding out his hand the cloak appeared in a green light and the man swirled it over his shoulders before his hand rose again and he turned around. Shadows immediately swept to his face and Mina couldn't identify anything except the green hair again. She realized her mouth had been open and quickly clacked her jaw shut. He walked back over and stood beside her. "Are you okay?"

"I am now," She answered without thinking. "I was looking for you,"

"You could've summoned me,"

"I can't if I use my quirk I'll,"

"I didn't say use your quirk, I said focus on the kunai," So that's what the blade was. "If it helps you can try to make it use your quirk,"

"How did you find me?"

"Chance, I just fulfilled a promise to someone that is helping me,"

"And that is,"

"Classified," She pouted and crossed her arms, "Now I believe it is time for you to get home," Suddenly Mina found herself in a bridal carry and they were walking up a wall again.

"Is there nothing I can call you,"

"Kage will do for now,"

"Okay, Kage, is there anything you can tell me?"

"I am male," No shit, "I come from a world you wouldn't survive a day in," Rude, "I my favourite colour is green," Bland "And I can read minds," Fuck. "Heard that."

"How?"

"Trade secret but when you broadcast your thoughts that loudly, I struggle not to hear them," He laughed as they bounded between rooftops, "I'm joking by the way, your facial reactions gave everything away," Mina sighed in relief. They stopped on the wall of her bedroom, next to an open window. Suddenly they were in her room. A copy of Kage appeared in a puff of smoke and turned on the nightlight bathing the room in orange and he laid her down on her bed. "Now I'd appreciate it if you didn't go treasure hunting in the night again, especially alone," She grabbed his hand as he turned. "You wish for me to stay?" She nodded and the light was flicked off before it returned. When she looked there was only one Kage, stood opposite her bed by the wall. "Is it because you want to talk again?" She nodded again. "Very well, may I take a seat?" Mina scooted over and patted the mattress. He strode over and sat down, Mina smiled and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him into the bed with her. "Are you quite sure? I won't be here when you wake up?"

"It's okay," She hugged his muscular body contently. "Could you talk to me?"

"About what?"

"Anything, hell I don't mind if you tell me a story,"

"Er, alright well," And so he launched into a story, of what she wouldn't remember, because she would just remember holding him and him her, while his scent reminded her of a forest after the rain and made her feel safe. She didn't care if he was there in the morning, because he was here now.

And that's all that mattered.

* * *

"I don't like being followed," Rumi tensed as something sharp was put against her throat, "And the only reason you were able to keep up is because I wanted to know if you were following me or not," She growled and felt the rage in her gut. She was _Miruko_ second year UA student and rising hero. Sure she was a Sidekick right now, but she was given her own patrol route, her own shift. She was powerful goddammit! How had she let this fucker get so close? "Easy there bunny rabbit, why don't we start with some identification,"

"Bunny hero Miruko,"

"Why were you following me?"

"Because you seemed suspicious,"

"How so?"

"Watching a group of random citizens walking in and out of their house,"

"I was watching a group of Yakuza grunts walking in and out of their safehouse, there's something dangerous going on in there,"

"Give me a reason to believe you," An arm wrapped around her body and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back against a body. A very non-feminine body.

"Oh? Now I really want to know why you were watching them? Finding a guy on the streets is hard these days,"

"Because they're all locked up in government farms," _He_ growled into her ear. Shit was he taller than her? "Now I've told you what's going on,"

"How would you deal with the Yakuza?"

"Trade secret," The arm and blade moved away as she was pushed forwards.

"Oh really? And where would you learn these secrets?"

"Classified," Rumi huffed, she'd met many villains like this. Bluffing with no real power behind them.

"Well, sorry buddy, but I gotta take you in," Jumping into the air she lifted a leg, "Luna Fall!" Her body fell towards the man. She smiled arrogantly as they didn't move. Probably frozen in fear. Until their hand lifted out of the cloak and _caught her fucking kick_. She stared at him, baffled.

"Cute," He remarked, before throwing her back to square one. "I was really hoping would could just resolve this peacefully," A white porcelian mask was lifted from the cloak and clipped onto his face, as his hand lowered it caught on a clasp and undid the cloak. It billowed away into the night air revealing, even in darkness, how muscular the man was. "In the report, please refer to me as Kage," A request? That was new. Rumi crouched low and charged her opponent. Once again a grin adorned her face until his foot came from nowhere, sidelining her in an instant. She rolled with the blow and wuickly got up to charge again. Aiming a roundhouse kick Rumi put her power into her leg, ready to break a few of his ribs if needed. Kage just stepped back and lifted his own leg, stopping the blow entirely. A slight pain raced up her shin. Dropping her leg she aimed to kick with her other foot. He ducked under it cleanly and stood back up. She aimed for his ankle, only for his other leg to stop it. She winced slightly from pain and hopped to switch feet. He blocked her attack with his foot again, pulling back for a second to kick it away. Caught off balance she wasn't prepared for him to lift his foot further and kick her in the gut. Winded she put an arm over her stomach, it was definitely about to bruise with how much it hurt. Her anger bubbled, it _shouldn't_ hurt, this was a _man._ A _quirkless_ , _weak_ man. He should've fallen to the floor the moment he knew she was there! He should be fearing for his health, pleading to not be hurt. "Miruko, you have one more chance, stand down," His tone inclined warning, as if he had a chance of winning. So he got a few lucky hits in, Rumi was still going to win this.

"Go to hell," A heavy sigh,

"Very well," He moved with blinding speed, a strong kick fractured her humerus. A direct stamp to her leg and her femur definitely had breaks somewhere. The body appeared in a flicker in front of her again, kicking her gut in. Yup that's an internal bruise. As she moved back he shimmered into existence below her, bending at an impossible angle. His foot connected and she flew skywards. Looking up at the moon she saw his body appear against it harshly. His leg rose in a semicircle before an axe kick sent her crashing back into the roof. Closing her eyes she awaited the painful impact. Only to be intercepted by arms holding her neck and shoulders and her waist.

"A-all Mi-,"

"Kage," She froze as they landed on another rooftop. gently she was sat down on an AC unit and Kage put his hands to her arm and leg. A soft green glow emanated from his hands and warmed her up. Her leg immediately felt fixed and the hand laid directly on her gut. "I hope this is ample enough reason to not attempt pursuing me or, 'taking me in' as you say, again," His hand moved away from her arm and into his cloak. Wait, when had he put that on again? How he even find the fucking thing? It went away with the wind for crying out loud! "Trade secrets," He muttered, "You were staring at my cloak," His hand returnde with a blade, holding the handle out to her. There was a dozen or so tiny scribbles on it. "You don't seem like the person to accept help but if you ever find yourself in over your head, hold this and think of me, I'll find you," It was forced into her hand.

"How? Lemme guess, trade secret?"

"Yes, and my brother is very much like a fox, so I've learned a few things," His hidden face was inches from hers, "Like hunting down bunnies," Rumi shivered at his gentle growl despite herself. "Now I must be going," Kage turned around and strolled towards the edge of the rooftop. "Let this be the last time you underestimate me, Miss Usagiyama," Her eyes widened in shock at both her name and how casually Kage walked off the edge of the building. Darting over the edge she looked over to see a handful of leaves falling in a swirl of air. Rumi looked at the weapon in her hand and thought. He'd easily stopped a supermove, beaten her in strength and easily matched her in flexibility from the looks of that axe kick. Seeing as he was nowhere in sight, not even on the horizon, he clearly had been letting her chase him, Yes, even though she was loathe to admit it, Kage had her beat. And yet, she didn't find herself stewing in fury, because he'd also caught her from a definitely bone breaking landing before healing up her injuries. He'd prevented her from getting seriously harmed and then handed her what amounted to an emergency SOS directly to him. He'd made her feel _safe_ despite beating her black and blue without a sweat seconds earlier. Her eyes widened when she realized, he hadn't even wanted to fight her! He'd been reluctant to do more than counter which means he must've held back on her! Clutching the weapon and staring at the moon, Rumi resolved to find him again and get some answers.


	22. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of Pain's assault and the Five Kage summit, the boys are quick to remind Tsunade of the Fourth Great Ninja War that was declared by Obito.
> 
> "You need to go, without us,"
> 
> "We're not going to take long,"

Naruto woke up tired. That wasn't normal. He began to remember the events of the night before. How everyone had shown up in their hut, Izuku had introduced the other members of Tayuya's team. Orochimaru and Jiraiya had stayed in the main room since they were just too tired to move. Tsunade and Shizune with them to make sure no issues occured. Itachi had stayed to assist and guard the women while Kakashi had gone to his own hut, leaving Shisui to bunk with Izuku and Katsuki. The Snake five: Suigetsu, Jugo, Jirobo, Kidomaru and Sakon (Only called that because they all followed Orochimaru) had gone to their own hut as well, too polite to take up any space for the night. Grampa had gone home to his own family as well. Temari and Tayuya had bunked with Sasuke while Ino and Sakura had joined Naruto on his way to bed. The two girls now laid either side of him, holding an arm each. Carefully he slid his arms out of the grasp before climbing off the bedroll. He couldn't wait for the day he could lay back down on a mattress. Neither girls stirred as he quietly made his way from the room. Closing the door softly he could see Tsunade sandwiched happily between Jiraiya and Orochimaru, both of them with their arms around her. Off slightly to the side Itachi was holding Shizune protectively in his sleep. He nodded in approval, Naruto had noticed the way the two would flit around each other, not always making eye contact but smiling everytime. Sensing someone at the door, the blond moved over quickly before the person could knock. Kakashi stood with a raised fist and eye wide in shock. Anko stood just behind him, equally as dumbstruck. "Morning Kakashi," Naruto whispered, "Good morning Anko, are you here together?" Anko blushed and Kakashi didn't move. "We don't mind, Kakashi everyone in this building wants you to be happy,"

"I, it's just,"

"What? Didn't want her to meet the family just yet?"

"Well, you see, I," Naruto was having a powe trip, no denying it.

"Come on sensei, in ya come," Grabbing both of them he silently dragged them into the hut. His eye once again displayed his shock as he saw Itachi snuggled with Shizune, "It's a slow one this morning, you'll get introduced to everyone in time," He whispered to a mortified Anko. "You'll already know team seven and Ino, it's just the rest to go," A pack of cards appeared from somewhere. "Shall we play a few games before getting breakfast going?" They sat down in a triangle as he dealt the cards slowly.

Sakura and Ino were first to rise, immediately sitting with im for warmth. Both had gone into his chest of drawers and taken one of his jackets because apparently they were the most insular clothing in the village. Of course the size helped as well, Naruto stood almost an entire head taller than either girl, so the sleeves fell almost to their fingertips and the hem fell halfway down their thighs. As soon as they sat down he'd dealt them into the game of Go Fish the three had ended up playing. Their presence seemed to soothe Anko who became a lot less worried about meeting the rest. Shizune and Itachi were next to wake. Shizune before Itachi and trying to worm from his grasp with a beet red face, only for him to roll and take her with him, causing her body to further press into him and arouse him from his slumber. Naruto wished he had a camera to forever capture the embarassment on Itachi's face when he saw Shizune on his chest. They quickly looked in opposite directions, yet neither tried to move away from the other. Silently Naruto had beckoned them over and space was made for the duo. Kakashi gave Itachis a reassuring look before Shizune unconsciously leant her head on his shoulder. Those two were a team then and he dealt the cards accordingly. Izuku appeared next, coming through the front door with bags, silently leaving them with the cooking pot.

"Alright, what we playing?" His hands rubebd together.

"Go Fish, where did you go?"

"Morning jog, cleaned up at hot springs and went to grab stuff for breakfast, it's only porridge I'm afraid," The group shrugged, Anko nervously peering at the greenette, "Anko, it's perfectly fine if you're with Kakashi, I've seen how happy you make each other, plus a fact, I'm the one who set you up on the blind date remember? Well, I helped Ino and Sakura do it," She paled before relaxing and nodding, shifting closer to Kakashi. Next up was Sasuke, who seemed panicked as he closed his door.

"You let them sleep with me?!" He whispered shouted at Naruto and Izuku, "Really?"

"Yes," Izuku nodded "Because they just went with you and none of use saw reason to stop you guys, besides all you did was sleep right?" Sasuke exhaled and joined the game. Tayuya and Shisui emerged at the same time but with different looks. Shisui had ink on his finger and was holding back cackles while Tayuya seemed embarrassed to the nth degree. She slowly shuffled over to the group and sat down next to Sasuke, leaning her chin on his shoulder with a red face. Naruto didn't deal her any cards. Shisui disappeared from the building for a minute, returning while wiping his hands on his trousers. He was dealt in as Temari joined the larger group. The Sannin woke up at the same time, the two males quicky rolling from Tsunade. Naruto let out an almost silent snort and all three looked over to them horrified. Izuku held up a hand and waved them over. They were dealt one hand as a group. Last was Katsuki, who kicked open the door in a rage.

"Shisui," He growled slowly. Everyone puffed their cheeks not to laugh at the ink drawing of glasses and a silly moustache on his face. The Uchiha in question put his cards down and stood up, gunning for the door.

"Whoop, wh-whu-whu-whoop," He cried as Katsuki gave chase into the rebuilding Konoha. Everyone sighed and finished up their large game. Izuku was first to get up, relighting the fire under the pot and filling it with water.

"Alright, gimme five to clean the pot and we'll get breakfast going,"

The morning was atmospheric, chatter began in earnest after the snake five arrived. Katsuki and Shisui had come back both drenched but cheery. Naruto was happy they made their peace without destroying anything. The blond served up steaming bowls with Izuku, "Oh, by the way, Tsunade, Rasa wishes to speak with you about preparations," Tsunade sighed.

"I understand, I just wish we had more time,"

"Time for what?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. Izuku took a deep breath,

"Kakashi, this is going to be hard to here but," The silver hair jounin nodded "Obito is alive, he was healed by someone unknown and manipulated into being the puppet master of the Akatsuki, we hav e suspicions he is working with Danzo and ROOT to collect the jinchuuriki," Anko grabbed his hand reassuringly, "He appeared at the summit and declared the Fourth Great Ninja War, so far nothing's happened and the jinchuuriki haven't called for help,"

"I-," Kakashi put his bowl on the ground, "I understand, Obito had been a friend before the mission failure, when Rin jumped in front of my," He choked slightly, "I felt as if I'd failed him," IZuku sucked on his teeth,

"There's also a chance that he saw the ending of that, but not Rin moving in front of you," Everyone stopped, Kakashi took an unsteady breath,

"I, this is a lot to process, I don't, I'm going to need time," He mumbled, Tsunade nodded,

"See to it, Anko you're going to make sure he rests and doesn't bottle anything up," The kunoichi nodded in agreement. "Now I received word for Killer Bee, there's an island in Lightning country that will help Naruto control all nine tails of chakra, Turtle Island," 

"Sounds good, when do we leave?"

" _You_ leave in a few days, while we are preparing for war," Naruto stood up, dropping his bowl,

"What? No, I'm not leaving while you guys are fighting," Izuku quickly stood up and pulled him out of the building, closing the door behind them. "Izu-,"

"We won't be fighting," He turned on his heel, "We will be training, studying, doing reconnaissance, we won't have the war without you alright?"

"I'm not running while,"

"You won't be running," The greenette snapped, "Nor will we be fighting, you are going to be training to be stronger, if you haven't guessed by now, you're our ace in the hole," Naruto just shook his head, "You and Kurama are the strongest of all jinchuuriki, who are stronger than anyone else in all the villages, do you know what kind of power you'd possess?"

"Nothing on you,"

"No dude, I can't do that,"

"Why not?"

"Do you know how lazy all of us would've gotten if I unleashed everything ever? Everyone would just hide until I left and then attack the weakest versions of you all," Naruto stepped backwards "If I wanted to I could've wiped Pain off the map, but then Obito would've just gone into hiding and attack while I'm gone,"

"Y-you let yourself,"

"Of course I didn't, but I wasn't fully aware of the Rinnegan's power set, I didn't expect to be pulled in, even before I unleashed I was impaled," The blond just closed his eyes, "Look I know you don't like it, no-one does, but you need to go, without us," He could see how much it hurt Izuku to say it, "I know we only just reunited and now you have to go again but,"

"I'll do it, how long will it be?"

"Depends on how quickly you get there, master the chakra control and then get back, if we exclude getting back because, y'know Flying Raijin," Izuku shrugged "Maybe four months lowest, if you master it immediately,"

"It'll take four months to get there?"

"Dude it's a turtle so massive it classfies as an island, be grateful I'm giving you enough credit to get there in four months," He fixed the blond with a stare before they walked back into the room.

"Alright Tsunade, let Bee know I'll go with him, I haven't got much to pack anyways,"

"Wonderful, now with that out of the way, Temari, your father has sent Kankuro over to assist with rebuilding, despite our protests," The Suna kunoichi smiled,

"Yeah, Kankuro is like a walking workforce, his puppets can do tonnes," They all heard Izuku strike his own forehead,

"Why didn't I think of that?" He groaned, causing everyone to chuckle. Tsunade continued,

"Everyone knows their roles, so it'll be the same for today, Naruto, your Shadow Clones will work while you pack, Katsuki, Izuku, you can do Shadow Clones too right?" Both nodded, "Good, I want as many as you can muster, help everything and everyone, we'll begin working again after we're all done with breakfast, Shisui, if you could go around the village and wake everyone up after you're done,"

"On it Tsunade," They shared a nod. Naruto served himself more porridge and stared into it quietly. He'd made the right choice, hadn't he?

"Alright Nine, it is time," Killer Bee stood in his door, did the guy ever not rap? "Call me Eight-o, that's my name yo," Clearly not, going with him was Kakashi, Might Guy and Yamato Tenzo. The latter was a Wood Style user Orochimaru had expiremented on while under Danzo's control. The man had Hashirama cells impanted into his body to gain Wood Style when he was a baby. Yes, Danzo was really that disgusting to kidnap infants from their cribs. He'd been one of the only to survive and considered himself one of Kakashi's self imposed friends. "Time to fly, Nine my guy,"

"Oh sweet Kami," Temari cried, "Get him out of here before I shove a scroll in his mouth!" Naruto deadpanned.

"Not a fan? it's alright man, after long, you'll love ma song," He stiffened and ducked under a book. "Ha too slow, gotta be fast don't y'know?" A second book promptly landed in his face. Naruto tossed the book back into the room and quietly stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

"Is there a reason you're always rapping?"

"It's just ma style, give it a while, we'l travel a mile, and you'll wear a smile," Naruto doubted that, "We'll grab ya friends, and the jounrey begins!" He doubted it _very_ heavily. Kurama had seemed to connect with Gyuki the Eight tails and the two were talking while tuning the humans out. Wonderful, so Naruto had to suffer through this awful rapping alone. The two began walking through the village, Naruto trying to get a normal conversation. 

"So what's Kumo like?"

"High up the sky, the Cloud is home to a great guy,"

"That you?"

"Of course ma man, I am the best wham!" That, that wasn't even an attempt. Naruto just took a deep breath.

"I know ya love to rap, but man you are crap, I can freestyle top of the dome, and I can beat ya to take it home," Bee just stared at him,

"So you wanna fight, come with all ya might, my rhymes are tight I'm way outta sight!"

"Look, Eight, ya think you're great, but really ya ain't, rhymes so cold they'd freeze paint,"

"Oh such disses, shame they're all misses, can't hit me, I'm too clean,"

"Not even a rhyme, wasting my time, ya need better lines, or get off ya shrine,"

"I got ryhmes for days, just check my shades, I spit such fire, I'll leave ya dazed, yo gonna get razed best remember my name!" The blond mentally face palmed. 

"You got a problem getting called shit? Think you got skills, chief this ain't it, gotta try harder or else just quit, if you're gonna try rap, you gotta commit cause right now, you're just couterfeit, need a quick wit if you're gonna swing, so get some practise, licketysplit," He smiled smugly as Bee looked at him in shock.

"Alright yo, you got a point yo," Naruto groaned, this man just never stopped. "Grab your friends and we'll go," 

"No need," Kakashi appeared with a finger in his ear, "I can't believe we have to deal with two of them,"

"Two of?" Naively the blond opened his mouth,

"KAKASHI MY ETERNAL RIVAL, LET US EMABRK ON THIS MISSION AND CONTINUE OUR FATED RIVALRY OF MEN!" THe willpower began visibly leaving his body. No, anything but this, please, anything but this. Guy let out a barking laugh, Yamato appeared quietly next to Kakashi, at least there was two other sane people on this trip. The five arrived at the exit where the gates were being rebuilt. They had a small send off party apparently as everyone from the big night in and Anko (Who had now become a regular dinner guest with Kakashi) were collected with smiles. Izuku had several Shadow Clones obviously taking the piss, with hats, big foam hands and flags with a cartoon rendition of his face. They all disappeared in a puff,(along with the merch too, shame he wanted one of those flags) and Naruto embraced his oldest brother.

"You take care of yourself alright? You got Kakashi and Yamato to keep you all there but don't you dare slack on training," He laughed,

"Like I would bro,"

"I mean it Naruto, I remember how you got when you had my Shadow Clone instead of me and now you're going off without even that," His brother held onto his shoulders as they faced each other, "You haven't got the deaf old man looking out for you this time, you have to look after these punks," His eyes flicked over to Kakashi, who was embracing Anko. "And make sure they all get back alive, even if you gotta whack them around the head,"

"As if I'd ever let them get hurt,"

"Good," Izuku let his brother go, "Don't forget, I'll be whipping you away for Christmas if you're still stuck out there,"

"I won't take that long," He chuckled before moving over to the Uchiha, "Don't worry guys, I'll be back soon, for now try keep Izuku from training too hard, he gets reall stressed when I'm not around," Sasuke laughed as Shisui smiled, Itachi simply nodded,

"I'll do my best Naruto, but think of it as incentive to get back here and cause trouble again,"

"Hey I don't- was that a joke?" Itachi smirked

"I'll never tell," He embraced each of the Uchiha and moved onto the Sannin,

"Try not to burn the place down will ya Tsunade? I would like to come back to a house,"

"Alright brat," She snorted before hugging him, "You come back alive alright? I'm not losing you again,"

"Don't worry Aunty, I'll be back before you know it,"

"If it's anything like your last return, we'll know you're back before you do," Jiraiya chuckled before hugging the blond too.

"You better hurry back Uzumaki," Orochimaru smiled "Otherwise I may take Danzo for myself," Naruto stared at him before hugging the white skinned man.

"I know we didn't start on the greatest terms Orochimaru, but you're family now, alright?" The Sannin stood in shock before gently returning the hold.

"Alright Naruto, you best return on time then, because we aren't celebrating your birthday if you aren't here,"

"I'll take that as a threat," He joked before moving towards Ino and Sakura, "I'll be back before you know it alright?"

"You better be, I'm not going three years without a decent night's sleep again," Sakura stomped her foot before hugging him, "Please come back soon, I don't know how we're going to cope if you die out there," Gently he wrapped one arm around her before pulling Ino into the fold. She simply held him silently, resting her head against his chest as if she'd never hear his heartbeat again. "Alright you big dummy? You better come back!" He laughed gently hodling them both tightly.

"I'd take you with me if I could girls, but this is something I have to do on my own," Holding them he almost broke and changed his mind, he wanted too so so badly. But Izuku's words reminded him, he needed to get stronger, the world was depending on him. It wouldn't take long right?

Right?

A week or so after travelling Naruto had passed the stage of being homesick and was just focuing on getting back. As it turned out he quickly developed the ability to tune both Bee and Guy out while conversing with Kakashi and Yamato. The latter enjoyed teasing Kakashi as payback for the cycloptic ninja always calling him 'kohai'. It took one accidental find and Naruto was _in_. Of course he helped Kakashi prank Yamato back. He was as you'd say, 'playing both sides', so that he'd always come out on top. Guy and Bee would alternatively make loud random noises the soon became background noise. One mystery four of them banded together on however, was the mission to catch Kakashi without his mask. Even while they ate, the man simply turned away before turning back in seconds, with the entire meal eaten. And so their journey was one of easy going friends, simply heading to a vacation. In fact the trip was almost entirely uneventful; they helped one village with a gang problem, saved another from invasion, had a couple rogues attack for bounties, just basic, run of the mill events in shinobi life. There was one incident however, that Naruto would never speak of again.

Word about his fight against Pain had apparently spread fast, because his name was recognized as the hero that beat the Rinnegan. Once people knew who he was, things were often discounted or thrust at him with requests for signatures, people asked for pictures too. It also happened that with the fame, came impersonators. He had to expose many a scammer to clear his name, and it irked him a lot. But one in particular, bothered him the most. A large rogue shinobi blocked their pathway with a large sword over his shoulder. "Halt!" He barked at them, "I am the Great Uzumaki Naruto," The blond's eyebrow twitched, "I demand you hand over your possessions or I shall unleash the Nine-Tails upon you insects," The three shinobi behind him tried suppressing their laughter.

"Oh?" Naruto's voice seemed to have developed it's own twitch, "You're Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yes,"

"Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails?"

"Of course!"

"You journied with the Toad Sage Jiraiya for three years?"

"I did and if you don't hand over your,"

"You sure don't look like him," Naruto folded his arms as 'Naruto' frowned.

"You should tread carefully weakling before I unleash the Toads and the Fox on you, how would you know what Uzumaki Naruto looks like?" The shinobi behind him began outright laughing, Kakashi falling to the ground and slamming his fist against is as Yamato wiped tears from his eyes. Bee began leaning against a tree and clutching his stomach while Guy oculd only hop on the spot.

"How could I?" He closed his eyes, his eyebrow twitching wildly, "By looking in the mirror,"

"What?"

"I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO YOU JACKASS!" He quickly planted his fist against the top of the man's head, causing him to cower. A new figure entered the fray,

"Finally I found you!" The figure knocked the larger shinobi out. "I must apologize travellers, this one has been eluding capture of the hidden Grass for a while," A kunai landed in his hand,

"Yeah no, I've seen this ploy before, big guy sizes up his opponents, new guy jumps in and takes the so called corpse away before they return, kill the travellers and make off with the score, rinse and repeat," The blond straightened himself, "Either fight us now or leave us the damn hell alone,"

"You would,"

"You have no hitai-ate, you are not wearing any ninja equipment and you look too sleazy to be a shinobi, so I'll say again, fight now or leave us the hell alone," The smaller man growled as he pulled out the kunai.

"Y-you little bas-," He charged Naruto, only to recieve a calm kunai to the gut.

"Noo, Boss!" The larger stopped cowering and held his blade ready, "Alright squirt, now you done," He was quickly killed by Yamato with several shuriken. Once they had disposed of the bodies the group continued on their way.

It took many more days for them to reach the shoreline, where they checked in and were quickly guided to a boat. Naruto happily climbed aboard and claimed a cabin as his own. Taking the time to finally have some quiet and work on his fuinjutsu. Izuku had suggested that he and Sasuke share a seal space. It was a complex idea, linking two seals to the same pocket space, it could mess up all kinsd of ways, from mixing chakra to limb swapping to one of them losing a limb while the other gained it! Naturally Sasuke had the seal applied first, to the back of his left hand. Naruto was doing it to the same hand and needed to pen the seal in exactly the same pattern for them to link up. If it worked it meant he and Sasuke could communicate over long distances. Izuku had opted out of it, stating that the two needed something exclusive to them. Izuku and Naruto had massive chakra while Izuku and Sasuke had the Sharingan, so Naruto and Sasuke needed something between _them_. The seal had been the final conclusion. Tracing the seal with ink carefully he allowed it to dry before running some chakra through it. Now it would successfully work he quickly wrote down a message.

_Hey Sasuke_

_Is this working? I just finished writing the seal on my hand, we're loading onto a boat now._

Rolling it up and sealing it away he waited for a few minutes before the seal pulsed minutely. Quickly he unsealed it and read the message.

_Naruto_

_Yes it's working. You should see Izuku now, he's dancing around the room like an idiot, cheering that his idea worked. Jiraiya admitted he's impressed and the girls look like they're planning to use me as a direct messenger to you. Next time you send a message, don't address it inside the note, roll it up and then put the name on it. We debated who should open it for five minutes._

The blond laughed quietly to himself before writing out another message.

_Alright alright, but if I I write a story or something I want Shisui to narrate it, he always does funny voices._

A response took seconds.

_You got it, how has your travelling been?_

_Not bad, there's a few stories I'm going to send you but the boat's is about to hit rough waters and Guy already looks seasick, so it might be a while before I can send another readable message through. Pass on my love to everyone. Yeah I said it, what you gonna do bitch?_

As the boat began rocking he felt one more message shrink into the seal. It contained two words, well, a word and a signature.

_Language - Izuku_

That got a good laugh from him. Using another seal on his body he pulled out a small notepad and a stick of glue. He attached the parchments to different pages, delicately placing an extra sheet between the writing and the page that would lay on top to prevent smudges. Closing the book gently he set it down in his hammock before walking onto the deck. Guy was leaning over the side, already spewing chunks at the wildlife. Bee didn't seem to far that much better, his dark skin getting a green tint as a hand rested on his mouth. "Yo dude I don't feel so," That was all he could manage before joining Guy at the edge of the boat and hurling himself. Silently the Uzumaki cheered at the promise of peace and quiet while they were on the boat. The seal buzzed on his hand and he quickly puffed the item into existence. A small photo of everyone gathered together smiling. It had been taken in between the days of his packing, so everyone was there. turning it over revealed a small message.

_You left this behind brat._

_Tsunade_

He smiled, putting the picture into another storage seal on the underside of his wrist. That picture reminded him of what he was doing, and how important it was. "Kakashi," The silver haird jounin turned. "Sasuke and I have a communication seal active now, so if there's anything you want to send back to anyone just label it for Sasuke and I'll pop it into the space," There was a smile from Kakashi.

"Thank you Naruto, oh and there's something I wanted to talk to you about, come with me quickly," The blond was led into a cabin, where the door was shut and locked. "I know you guys have wanted to see my face for a while now, so," He lifted up his headband and pulled down his mask, revealing the chizeled chin to Naruto, who stared in shock. A sweet smile and Kakashi covered his face again.

"Why did you do that?" He hissed at the older shinobi, who smiled again, this time more sadistically and spoke slowly.

"Because no-one will ever believe you," The blond stared in shock as Kakashi left the room. Realisation struck as the door closed.

"You sick bastard," As if on cue, the sound of Bee and Guy puking could be heard. This trip was shaping up to be much more fun than before.

* * *

Enri Todoroki was a heroine of focus and determination. She walked her patrol routes diligently and made sure that villains were put away with swift action and minimal property damage. Which was actually harder than you'd think with her pyrokinetic quirk _Hellfire_. Her diligence was, in part, why she chose her hero name, Endeavor: to try hard and achieve something. Which is why she had quickly risen the ranks. Now she sat comfortably in the number two spot on the charts. Not that she actually cared anymore. Had you asked her ealier in life, she would've gone made with rage and jealousy, but that would be before she met Rei. Rei who, ironically, had a cryokinesis quirk. Yes, the white haired woman had been the one to quell Enri's raging heart and see that life wasn't just about being the strongest, or the most powerful hero. Whether intentional or not, Rei had managed to sway Enri away from the might makes right ideology. It was like a sappy fairytale from one of the movies her wife had convinced her to watch on more than one occasion. With that, came a whole host of attitude changes. Enri now found herself much more patient and understanding to those around her and working with her. Despite her workaholic nature she was always excited to go home to her four children. Touko her eldest, Natsumi and Fuyumi the troubemaking twins, Shoko the one born with a pefect balance of both mothers' quirks and Shoto, her only son. Shoko and Shoto were twins as well but Shoto was much quieter than the rest. Rei and Enri did everything they could for the boy but society seemed insistent on crushing him down. Even his own sisters were horrible when neither mother was around and with Shoto unwilling to talk about it, Enri was stuck unable to help her suffering child. Alright, maybe she wasn't the one to carry them (Rei had insisted since Enri was a heroine, pregnancy would be too dangerous for her) but she stilled adored all of them. Even if she and Rei were alone in believing Shoto could do great things, they loved their son just as much as their daughters. Thinking of her family, Enri wished she could be with them now, but unfortunately she'd had to work a late shift into the night because a fellow heroine had suffered an illness that left them bedbound. Her heart went out to the poor woman, as anyone's would, but why was she the one stuck covering the shift?! The night's were always so boring and, 

Wait.

Did, did that body just cover six rooftops in a single bound? And was that a _fucking dragon made of fire_ raising into the sky from where they had been stood?! Enri smiled, maybe the shift would be more interesting than she thought. Quickly hopping from her rooftop, she activated her quirk on her feet. One of the many abilities she'd perfected as a student of UA was flight through propelling herself with her flames. The figure seemed clad in shadows and was carrying a teen girl in their arms. Despite the phenominal speed of the individual, the girl seemed oddly safe. They landed in the Yaoyorozu estate and the two owners came rushing out to greet them. The conversation was quick with the figure handing something to the girl, who Enri identified to be Momo Yaoyorozu and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Enri looked around the cityline for the figure before "Is there a reason you followed myself and young Miss?"

"I saw you leave an alleyway and clear six rooftops as a torrent of flame that almost seemed to be alive raced skywards from your position,"

"A signal, to draw attention to police, it will lead them to four criminals I apprehended and bound," Alright, so this was clearly a person of morals.

"Do you have a name?" She turned aroudn to face the figure.

"None you know, none I shall share for now," They spoke from under a hood, their face hidden by darkness, their body by a black cloak, a flicker of green hair was the only colour she could see.

"Then I think Kage will do nicely," She was not stupid, rumours and stories of a duo clad in shadows circulated the internet every few weeks for the past three years. It was a low risk this wasn't Midorikage. "Where is your partner? Orenjikage was it?"

"Gone home, I have too but I have the ability to be in two places at once, he does as well but I didn't tell him I was hanging around,"

"Well, I'm sure you'd be willing to answer a few questions vigilante?" Kage thought for a moment before sitting on an AC unit.

"Of course, you've been civil through this entire meeting, I see no reason not to return the gesture," A hand appeared before flicking upside down rapidly, a small object had suddenly appeared in the hand, "Cookie?"

"Thank you," Enri took it as Kage flicked their hand again and began eating one herself, "Let's get the one I know you won't answer out of the way, what's your real name?"

"I don't have one," That, that was not an answer she was expecting, "At least, here I don't, because here, I don't exist, any record of my birth, death and disappearance has been scrubbed clean, it would tarnesh mummy dearest's reputation, even though I am," Kage paused, "Anyway, I doubt even if I told you my name, that my family would admit I was ever born," As previously stated, Enri was not an idiot, she knew Kage cut themself off before they could expose themself.

"Because you are quirkless?"

"Because I am male," If Enri hadn't already finished her cookie, she would've choked on it and dropped whatever was in her hand.

"You are male, and you cleared six rooftops, you cleared a city block, in one leap? No, wait, you're a male and you made a dragon of living fire?!" Kage waved a hand in a circular motion,

"Yes I know, unbelievable, I should prove it or,"

"No I believe you,"

"Wut?"

"I believe you, this isn't disbelief, this is vidication, validation, I have a son, I am fighting to keep him away from the government once he turns eighteen, even asking my alma mater to give him a spot in their general education course, your mere existence proves I am not fighting a losing battle," 

"Honestly, not what I was expecting, no offence but I expected you to try incinerate me after I declared my sex," Enri waved a hand, "Your son, how old is he now?"

"Sixteen, might I ask why?"

"If you wish to win your battle, I will help, but I can't just yet as I am needed more elsewhere, I shall be busy for a long time here too, so for now I will give you a small piece of advice, any training you are doing with your son, increase it, if he is doing five laps now, have him do ten, if he is lifting twenty-five kilograms, make it twenty-six, have him do as much balance training as possible, if I am to help, he will need to fight you to a standstill with one hand behind his back, otherwise my job will be much, much harder," Kage stood up, "Do not be afraid to break him Endeavor, his quirklessness allows him power beyond what you know, his muscles will evolve beyond any standard you are used to, while you are at it, teach him, the education system will fail him, so it falls to you to fill the gaps, but there is one more thing you must do, it will be the key part in his development, even now,"

"What is it?"

"Do not allow him to feel alone," And just like that, as she blinked, Kage had disappeared from her sight, this time not speaking from any direction. He had completely vanished. Enri quickly checked the time and began making her way home. She had a regime to make.

* * *

Momo held the kunai in both hands. Kage's cloak was draped around her shoulders again. Clutching it tightly she focused on the blade. Her quirk glowed in her hands but she didn't create anything. "I must ask you to stop calling me outside, young Miss" Kage was behind her again, the light bathing his back, "It's not good for your health to be out in the cold so frequently,"

"I...I did it?" Momo gazed at her hands, "I did it," 

"You did, but barely," Kage took out a hand from his own cloak, "I'd advise you keep trying every night, it never hurts to visit,"

"What do I,"

"Practise, focus, there's not much skill involved in it," His hand waved, "I have almost perfect control at the skill, a friend of mine has a natural talent and it means they have perfect control," A soft blue emanated from his hand, "That control allows me abilities such as this,"

"What are you controlling?"

"Trade secret, is there a reason aside practise you called me again young Miss?"

"Why do you call me that? Young Miss,"

"Because that is who you are to me, unless you'd prefer a different name, _Ma cherie_ ," She blushed at his blatant flirting "Is there a problem with it?"

"You're the same age as me!"

"And that makes any difference?" Kage stood quietly, the cloak gently bending in the wind. "I have killed people twice and thrice our age, I was twelve when I fought and bested a man that was twenty-six, I outclassed most of my allies, sempai and peers by the time I turned thirteen," Momo stepped back against the balconey railing, "If there was ever something that I qualified for, it was calling you young Miss," A hand came from her cloak to rest on the side of his hood, gently pressing into his cheek.

"What have you done? Have you seen?"

"Stuff that would give the monsters under your bed nightmares, I fought in a civil wore, coating my hands in blood, I have saved lives and lost them as I tried forcing a dead heart to beat," His hands rested on the railing either side of her, "I have killed a man without him even realizing I was closing in, I have so much blood on my hands I could flood paint the sky red, I have killed so many I lost count and I have saved nowhere near enough to save my soul,"

"Why?" Her eyes were watering at his pain, "Why would you do that?"

"Because, if the only way I may save a thousand lives is to take one, then I shall do so, if there is a person, planning on killing hundreds, I will kill them before they harm anyone," His hands gripping the railings, "I will collect names and doom my soul because it is the right thing to do," Gently she slipped her hand under his hood, his skin warm under her hand. "If it is how I can save as many as possible, I will sell my soul to death itself, I chose the name Kage for a reason y'know?" Momo tried looking into his eyes, "Because I am a shadow of what I used to be, I tried to save everyone's life, now I take them daily,"

"To save even more lives," She whispered to him, "You save thousands at the cost of one, you rescue families at the expense of a single life, you can't quantify how many people you save just by looking at it directly," Her hand was slowly gliding to the back of his head, she could feel his tangle of curly hair. "You save those mothers and fathers and brother and sisters the heartache of loss, you protect those lovers, sons and daughters from the pain of never saying 'I love you' again," Her other hand rested on his chest, sliding past his cloak.

"And yet I still hurt people, still hunt them, I do not rescue people, I doom them to live in fear of the next maniac," His heart beat under her hand.

"You saved me," Her voice was barely above the wind, "You rescued me that night on the street, and again when you landed here a few nights ago," His wrists touched either side of her hips. "You came back when I called you despite having better things to do and no need to be here, in case I was in trouble," She leant forwards, "Would that be because you wanted to be here?"

"You don't want this," He whispered "You don't want me," She paused, "You don't want any of this, it will destroy you, I won't be here," 

"Then why give me the chance?"

"Because I can't help but want it," Her arms clenched and she pulled him into her, finding his lips almost naturally and kissing him. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she felt his hands finally hold her back delicately. Letting her fingers get caught in his hair she felt him lift her up and sit her on the railing, still holding onto her waist. Breaking apart for breath, she rested her forehead against where his should be. His breath was hot on her cheeks. 

"Convinced yet?" She smiled, even though inside her heart was breaking. Why? It was simple really, even if Kage revealed himself to the world, even if he proved valuable enough to be kept out of the government facilities that protect men, he'd still be a man. Meaning that he'd have to take multiple wives, and Momo would just become one in a dozen. It stung as a thumb came up to wipe away the tears she didn't know she spilt.

"I know the laws of this world, I have studied them religously to help my fellow men, so I know why you are crying young Miss," His voice soothed her ache, "And I want you to know, _if_ you decide to stick around, you will not just become a face and body to me," She hiccuped a laugh out, "You will always be, my young Miss," She threw herself into him, "This is why I didn't want you to let me in, because it would just seek to hurt you,"

"So you wanted me to stay away, even though it would hurt you, just to protect me?" There was a selfless motive in there somewhere.

"As I said before, I doom my soul to an eternity of pain if it means saving a life," The shadow on his face receded just enough to show a pair of crimson eyes, with a four pointed spinwheel with a diamond centre, the eyes carried emotions that she couldn't understand, weight no-one should ever bare. It seemed to crush her just by being near him. "Even if I am saving someone from hurting," The eyes disappeared into blackness again and with it the weight. "I do not wish to drag you into my mess, so for now I ask you to wait for me,"

"Will you still come here?" Momo was scared. Scared to lose Kage, scared to never see him again. Scared that the next she'd hear of him would be his death.

"Whenever you call me," His words swept her fear away in one moment, the way he had spoken, the chesire smile in his voice. Kage wasn't going to go anywhere. "I'll be right by your side, unless I'm fighting, then I'll be with you once I'm done," Stepping backwards and lifting her off the railing he sighed, "Well, I suppose it's time for you to go to bed, next time, please call me somewhere inside, I'd hate for you to catch a cold," The hood was pulled up over her head with one hand and the other simply dropped to his side. Momo just smiled as Kage hopped onto the barrier with ease, turning on the ball of his foot. "Now I must be off my young Miss, is there anything more I can do for you tonight?"

"No," She giggled as he bowed,

"Then I shall take my leave, stay well young Miss, for you shall see me soon," His body fell backwards and Momo leant over to see the leaves falling again. With a soft smile she began making her way back to her room, with a weight of her shoulders and a smile in her soul, she couldn't smile with her heart.

For Kage had stolen it.

And he had given her a piece of his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Serious question time, do you guys think I should bring back Kushina and Minato? There's a few bullshit ideas I've got to that would work and I obviously wouldn't bring them back at the same time but I'm torn between giving Naruto his parents back and just leaving him to be happy with the family he's got. So I put it to you guys, You have a week so, the 20th. If there's a majority before that though, I'll try get the next chapter out for then.  
> Oh and just for clarity, I've aged Shizune down by about nine years, like I don't care if she's older than Itachi, I just don't want a weirdly big age difference.  
> Thanks again for your support  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out.


	23. Christmas break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt this story to bring you some Chirstmas shenanigans courtesy of the Ninja's Hero cast.
> 
> "Y-you, how did?"
> 
> "Merry Christmas Naruto,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains stuff that will in fact, effect the timeline, including events and exchanges, but only on a minor scale. Let me know what you think in comments, I do read them even if I can't figure out a response.

Naruto groaned as he woke up. He was currently in one of the guest rooms of Bee's holiday house on Turtle Island. They had arrived two months ago after a four month journey. One month getting from Konoha to the coast and the other three at sea sailing towards the island. The boat ride had been a lot more enjoyable than the walking, mainly for two reasons. Number one, no walking, simple as that. And number two, Guy and Bee were both incredibly seasick, so the two loudest party members had to be quiet the entire time. After he had perfected the seal on his left hand, Naruto had been able to write frequence letters back to the others, since it was connected to a pockeet space Sasuke also had access to. Speaking of the seal it pulsed for a moment, telling him Sasuke had sealed something away. Pushing his own chakra into it he held a small note in his hand.

_He's going to grab you and the others in five._

Five what? Five minutes, five ho-

"Merry Christmas!" Izuku cried,

"AAHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he leapt to the other side of the room. Five seconds is what Sasuke meant then. Looking at his brother revealed he was wearing somethign very un-Izuku. That was to say, something not green, black or a shade between the two. In fact he was wearing the complete opposite of green and black: red and white. A red Santa hat with a white puffle and a white strip around the base. A bright red jacket with white highlights, a black belt with a golden buckle held up a pair of red trousers with white cuffs. Black snow boots completed the outfit while the white beard and moustache mask finished the look, even if they clashed horribly with his green hair. The blond glared at his brother, who was laughing whole heartedly. 

"Motherfucker I will end you!" He growled

"Language," They both said, Naruto grinned at getting his own back. "Alright anyway, so in your last letter you mentioned about a chakra isolation chamber or whatever?"

"Yeah,"

"Awesome take me to it," In a poof Izuku was back in his regular clothes, dusting his arms off. "Then we'll all head back to Konoha," He placed a temporary formula on the nearest wall. Naruto swiftly walked out of the room.

"Fine but I'm getting breakfast first,"

"This is the space?" Izuku looked around the colourful area, neither of them stood on a discernable floor, "Trippy,"

"Yeah I know," Naruto shook his head "But anyways, why did you want to come here?"

"All shall be revealed dear brother, let's go see Kurama shall we?" The world around them darkened until the pair stood before the great gates, sealing Kurama away. "Heya Tiger!"

**"What is it kit?"**

"Well, I was wondering about something, Naruto told me about this thing that happened while you were trying to do this thing with the seal," The greenette walked away from Naruto and climbed up to Kurama's ear. The blond frowned as he watched the two conspire silently.

"Naruto?" A voice startled him "Are you trying to weild the full power again?" He turned around to see a red haired woman smiling softly at him "I won't be able to help much this time, I'm afraid that if I don't let what little of my,"

"Ah, excellent you're here too," Izuku landed without a sound, "Kushina Uzumaki correct?"

"And you are?"

"Has he not told you about me at all? I'm Izuku Uzumaki, adopted pseudo-older brother of one Naruto Uzumaki, I'm the guy that's helped him keep smiling, we've learned tonnes together, he's even helped me crack fuinjutsu, we've come up with a jutsu for him as well!" Kushina's eyes widened, "I guess that technically makes me your adopted son, so, hi ma?"

"Naruto, you never told me you'd found a family," Tears fell down her face, "I'm so proud and happy for you Naruto," She held the blond, "Izuku, please, continued to keep looking after him, I, there's no way I can," Izuku grinned,

"I was always going to, he's my first real family too," A quick shake of the head, "Look anyway, Naruto gave me this little idea, I'm going to need your help with it Kushina,"

"H-how do you expect me to be able to help you?"

"It's a bit hard to explain in full, so for now I'm just going to say, I'll be borrowing your chakra from the seal,"

"You, wait, you, what?!" Naruto shook his head, "I, dud there's no way you can,"

"Only a master sealer can perform such a task, even then the chakra required is immense, you're either incredible at fuinjutsu or you're taking a very big risk young man," Izuku grinned coyly,

"I'm going for both," He grabbed Kushina's wrist and pulled her down to whisper in her ear. Naruto still didn't hear anything but his mother's face changed to one of shock, disbelief and then determination. "Think it's possible?" She stood back up,

"Well, after hearing your plan and being able to follow everything, I'd have to say that, yeah, it's more than possible, but it'll be a difficult task,"

"Nothing's ever fun if it's easy," Naruto chirped in "Can you guys explain now?" Izuku cackled, like an evil genius,

"Nope! Now I hate to say this but I'm borrowing your mother Naruto!" Izuku was overtaken in a blue glow that encompassed Kushina too.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'll see you soon!" Her smile seemed to pause all of his worries. Kurama laughed as the two disappeared from the mindscape.

**"Oi kit, have some faith in him, he knows exactly what he's doing, now go enjoy this celebration, I want to enjoy some turkey!"**

"You got it big guy!" Naruto held up a thumb as he crossed back into the chamber, shaking off the vertigo as he stood on air. "Let's get going Izuku!" The greenette grinned and the two darted out of the room before disappearing in a single green flash.

The group landed on grass in a training ground. "I-Izuku?" Naruto looked around, "This isn't home?"

"Isn't it? Ah shoot," There was a smug grin, "Better take the others back and try again, you can find your way home right?" They disappeared, leaving Naruto alone.

"Oh you little asshole," He seethed before something leapt from the bushes. He was barely able to identify Rock Lee before avoiding the high speed kick.

"COME NARUTO, LET US SPAR IN A FESTIVE HOLIDAY BATTLE!"

"I, what?" He was confused, mainly because Lee had been yelling and barely anything was understandable, but also because what he had been able to discern was confusing at best, "Spar, festive what?!" He repeated, avoiding another kick, "Woah, Lee, come on now, give me a second to breath,"

"THERE IS NO TIME NARUTO WE MUST BATTLE WHILE THE WINTER HELPS COOL OUR BOILING BLOOD OF YOUTH!"

Whatever drugs Lee was on right now, Naruto wanted not one piece. Mini Guy ran at him headfirst. "DO NOT RUN AWAY NARUTO, SHOW ME THE POWER OF YOUR YOUTHFUL SPIRIT!" Pulling himself out of the way Naruto dodged him like a charging bull. This was either going to end hilariously or very _very_ painfully. He wanted to avoid the latter as much as possible.

"Lee, can you please explain to me why you are charging me for no reason?!"

"YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINING ON TURTLE ISLAND, I WANT TO SEE JUST HOW HARD YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING!!" The blond ducked under a punch before hopping above a sweeping kick, grumbling tom himself. Lee sent a straight punch to his face. His hand rose up, the back of it striking Lee's wrist, knocking his attack off course. Naruto followed up with a flat palm strike to his ribs and finishing with a knee into the gut. Lee stumbled back slightly and began grinning. "LET US IGNITRE THE AIR WITH OUR PASSION NARUTO," He rocketed forwards with a flying kick.

"Oh my god, shut up!" Grabbing his ankle he swung Lee around and sent the boy into the cliff makring one edge of the training field. He rested in the small crater for a moment before falling out and smiling.

"Excellent spar Naruto, I can already tell you've been training hard," He gave a signature thumbs up, "Merry Christmas Naruto!" The blond shook his head and leapt away.

He began walking through the reconstrucing village, taking in the progress, houses had been built up, shops were getting set up. Paths were being made. Something came into his vision. "Oh, hey Sakura!" He took the pinkette in his arms, spinning around a few times. "How has everything been going?"

"Oh, so so, we've had the Akatsuki attempt a few thigsn but normally Saskuke, Naruto and Katsuki can fend them off, I'm sure Sasuke told you right?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry I wasn't here to help," He rubbed the back of his head as Sakura took his other hand.

"So what's it been like on Turtle Island?" Shaking his head, Sakura frowned "That bad huh?"

"Well, three days of the week I train, three days I just spend meditating, there's no ramen and I have Guy and Killer Bee as company," A small grin "But it's not so bad, I mean there's tonnes to explore on the day I rest and I have my own room, I can still talk to everyone," She smiled,

"I'm glad you're not finding it unbearable,"

"Although I have had a bit of a problem sleeping, the bed is far too big," He leant forwards, resting his chin on her shoulder. "I wish I had some company," She patted his cheek teasingly. He huffed and nibbled her ear in retaliation. "C'mon let's get home," There was no missing the microscopic freeze and panic befoer Sakura protested,

"How about we go explore the village first?" She pulled him in the opposite direction to the house, "We can go have some Ichiraku,"

"Sold!" Laughing good naturedly he let her lead him through the growing crowds. "So what's goign on at home?"

"Oh, just," She began fumbling for an answer, "Hey we're here," They had arrived in the rebuilt ramen stand, moving the curtain away to enter and sit on a stool each. "Can I have my regular please?" Distracting either herself or him wasn't working.

"Yeah, I'll have the usual too please," The blond didn't look away from Sakura as she smiled and began talking to Old Man Teuchi and Ayame, carefully and tactfully dodging his question. He didn't listen to a word they said though, not his fault they talk about things like business and foot traffic and whatever. Although he does manage to tune in when Teuchi talks about business booming because of Naruto's known love of the noddle shop and that they may be able to upgrade the shop be more indoor seating. He grinned, after all these two had doen to help him, they deserved some success. Chuckling slightly he grinned to Teuchi, "I'm glad you guys are getting more attention y'know, it's high time you deserved it for helping the three of us for so long," Sakura smiled warmly to him as well.

"The fact they do the best ramnen in the vilage has absolutely nothign to do with it then?"

"I never said that," Quickly lifting a load of noodles into his mouth Naruto silently ate for a moment before he had finished the bowl. "Alright, home bound,"

"Hold on Naruto, I'm not even half done yet!" She grabbed his hand, "Come on, you wouldn't leave me behind would you?" Sighing he sat back down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"No, no I wouldn't, but normally you put it away faster than I do!"

"We haven't spent time together I ages Naruto, I wanna take my time with it," Kissing her temple he smiled softly,

"Oh alright," Relenting he relaxed on the seat and kept his arm around her.

"Naruto! You're back!" Ino ran over and hugged him, "Izuku said he'd go get you, come on, let's grab some hot chocolate at the flower shop,"

"But, we were just about to head to our house Ino," He grinned as she took his free hand.

"Oh, I just came from there, I wouldn't head over just yet, it's a mess decorating, you'd just step on a glass decoration or something," She giggled "Plus I think Katsuki started fighting with the lights so," Naruto let out a laugh as Sakura quietly hummed in amusemet. "So let's get out of the cold and get some hot chocolate," Grinned, his face quickly fell into shock when he realized.

"You guys are wearing my jackets?" Both girls were in fact, clad in black and orange jackets. The same black and orange jackets they had stolen from his drawers after reconstruction had begun. They both flushed from embarassment as he grinned, "You look great in them," Stepping back from both of them he feigned curiosity, "Except Ino you've got something, there," He kissed her cheek "And Sakura you've got something," He kissed her forehead "There," Ino adorably clutched the collar of the jacket, lifting it up past her nose while sakura mumbled something about being 'unfair'. Laughing at how shy they were he grabbed their hands and led them towards the Yamanaka flower shop. "Y'know you two are really cute when you get embarassed, almost like you don't quite believe how I feel," Sakura just squeezed his hand.

"We, we, sometimes we don't," Ino looked at the floor as they entered the shop, "It's just, we, there's," She took a deep breath and seemed to centre herself "You saved the village y'know, that's made you a hero in a lot of people's eyes," Naruto snorted "And you could have almost any if not every girl in Konoha wrapped around your finger if you wanted to, so it's just," The blond remained silent as he walked over to the door, flipping the open sign over and locking the door.

"I could, you're right about that," He admitted casually, "If I wanted to I could take almost any woman in Fire country to bed because stories travel far," The two girls looked crestfallen, "And if you can give me one good reason why I should, I'll consider it,"

"Because, because there are people more deserving of you, y'know?"

"I said a reason, not bullshit Ino," He folded his arms, "Do you know how long it took me to convince myself that you two weren't just falling for me because I'd spent months training the two of you?" They both gazed at him, "Hell I was sure that when I returned after my trip with Jiraiya that neither of you would have those feelings anymore, I convinced myself you'd moved on and gotten partners and I don't know," He waved an arm, frustrated, "I, look, I could walk out of this place right now and wake up in someone else's bed if I wanted to, the fact I'm here should tell you everything," His arms began gesticulating, "I don't want to wake up in someone else's bed, I want to wake up in our bed, holding the two of you, I don't want some meaningless fling with this random girl that deluded herself into thinking I was her prince charming off of a, probably wildly inaccurate, story, I want the relationship I have with the two of you," Their eyes glazed over, "I," Dropping his head, he sighed heavily, "Look I understand that you're probably feeling insecure because of how much attention you think I'm getting, but I'm not going anywhere, when I come back from Turtle Island for real, I will be coming back to you," A soft smile to them both, "So no more worrying, okay?"

"Naruto!!" They both cried, jumping into his chest. Taken by surprise the blond yelped as they crashed to the ground. They cried into his chest with heavy relieved sobs as he rubbed their backs in gentle slow circles. Kissing their temples in turn he laid his head back and smiled. Even if it was for the day.

It was good to be home.

They bumped into Sasuke next, who seemed very panicked. "Guys!" He called out, hurriedly making his way over, "You gotta help me," He almost whispered "I've really dropped the ball this time,"

"What did you do Sasuke?" Naruto sighed, knowing he'd not likely get home before it went dark at this rate.

"I haven't managed to find a present for Tayuya or Temari yet, they're going to kill me," He clutched his forehead, "I haven't been this stressed since I set fire to the kitchen,"

"So last week?" Ino jokingly ventured,

"Not the time please, I just need help finding presents for them, please,"

"You got it man, who's first,"

"Tayuya, she likes playing the flute a lot,"

"She already has her flute though," Sakura rubbed her chin, "Maybe if we got her something to battle at close range with,"

"Yeah, and you could give her personal lessons," Naruto teased as Sasuke went pink.

"Don't test me Uzumaki, I will break you little man,"

"I'm the same height as you,"

"Like a twig," Sasuke threatened, "A close weapon might work, and something she can hider her flute in, alright, let's go to Blades in Knaves quickly!"

"Blades in, you mean the store Tenten's family runs?" Naruto shook his head in confusion, "They only do really custom weapons, it'll take a few hours before," Sasuke began dashing through the crowd. "Sasuke wait up!!" The three quickly began following him into the village, the girls weaving through the crowd while Naruto greeted people and began smiling at strangers that called his name. He began to duck and darted into an alley. Leaning against a wall he took time to recollect himself from the verge of his anxiety, sure the people were cheering for him, but they were still shouting for him in a crowd, people still turned to look around for him whenever they heard his name. He couldn't escape the still present fear they were just going to start chasing him again. So he quickly got onto the rooftops and pursued from there. Sasuke was easier to find from the top as he was the one leading Ino and Sakura through the crowd and Naruto could pick out his two girlfriends from anywhere. Bouncing between the buildings he leapt up and across the main street in the village, clearing it with ease. Sasuke was continuing his charge through people, zipping between and flipping over oncomers. Naruto smiled and hopped into the air, rolling perfectly to land on the wall and run along it. He arrived at the store first, standing on the sign and glaring down as Sasuke broke through the crowd. "Next time, don't run off," The ravenette just nodded as Naruto dropped to the floor, Sakura and Ino quickly appearing from the crowd. They all walked into the store behind him and began looking at the stocked goods.

"Ah, hey guys!" Tenten greeted from the front counter. Naruto raised a hand while looking at different shortswords, maybe something for Katsuki? "Sasuke, are you here for the," He made a strangled noise before quickly interrupting,

"Yes I am here to _place_ and order that may take a few,"

"But you came in like, four days ago," She reachde below and pulled out a box, "Gift wrapped and every," Naruto came out of his aisle, staring at Sasuke, "Oh,"

"Yeah no shit oh!" Sasuke bit, it was the blond's turn to lead the chase as he bolted for the door, Sasuke sweeping up the box and calling "Thank you for the item!" Sakura nd Ino bid hurried farewells as they gave chase too. Naruto burst into the air and leapt to the rooves.

As he approached the door Ino jumped onto his back, "Wait!" He stumbled forwards, slowing enough to let Sakura in front of him.

"We, we can't let you in yet Naruto," She stood with her arms out, trying to block his path, he just hooked his arms under her armpits and lifted her from the floor. Squaking indignantly, Sakura went red from her failed attempt to stop him. Sasuke somehow slipped past him and grabbed his wrist as he reached for the door.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but we can't actually let you go inside, not yet anyway,"

"Well, I'm telling you to let me inside, right now," Pulling his arm away, the blond briefly lost his balance from the two women clutching him. Pivoting hard on his heel he somehow remained standing. Getting grumpy he looked pasted Sakura at Sasuke, who briefly faltered before griting his teeth and straightened up.

"You aren't getting past me Uzumaki,"

"You wanna bet Uchiha?" The two glared silently, Naruto one as Sasuke quickly broke down laughing.

"Do you know how dumb you look right now? Trying to look angry while you have two girls clinging to you," Naruto pouted but shortly joined Sasuke in laughing good naturedly.

"So why can't any of you let me in?" Once the humor had died down Naruto tried the diplomatic route. Sasuke shrugged,

"Izuku didn't tell us, he just said, and I quote, I'll be dropping him in a random training field, do not let him here until past nightfall,' and then said if we didn't we would have to sit at the kiddie table with plastic cutlery and paper plates," The ravenette shivered, "Are, are they asleep?" Peering at his left shoulder showed that Ino was resting her head against it with her eyes closed, on his right revealed Sakura's neck as she curled with his neck. 

"I believe so," 

"Man that was fast, they really must not have slept well,"

"To be far, neither have I," Naruto yawned, "I could take a nap right now, if only I could get to my bed," Sasuke laughed,

"Yeah nice try, I'm not letting you in, maybe go for a walk or something,"

"But the girls are asleep and I don't wanna wake them up," He whined, "Plus I really just want to sit down inside and have turkey,"

"Well, tough, you can't," They heard hinges creak.

"You can come in now, people are beginning to make bets on how long your standoff lasts," Izuku had a flat face, "Naruto, you weren't supposed to be here yet, you're ruining all the effort people put into your gift,"

"My gift?"

"Is a surprise but you're insistent on not listening to anyone so you may as well come inside. we've managed to hide it for now, you stay in the dining area and that's as far as you go, capiche?" He nodded and entered the house behind Sasuke, "Floor plan is the same as it was before, furniture is all new so don't break it and we finished painting the walls yesterday, don't get anything on them," The blond nodded numbly and made his way to the chairs, lowering Ino onto one before gently taking Sakura from his front and laying her to rest in another. Izuku returned to the kitchen, talking with Itachi and oddly enough Kakashi, as the three began cooking what appeared to be enough Christmas dinner to feed a small army. Mind, with so many people in his family now, it wasn't really that far off. Taking a seat for himself he watched Sasuke walked over to Tayuya and greet her with a peck to her cheek, the box hidden behind his back. Temari was smiling at the pair as she walked over, snaking a hand around Sasuke's waist. Oh, so those three were like that then? "Oh and you should know Naruto, Rasa, Gaara and Kankuro are visiting for the night too, Hinata's gone back to her compound for dinner but she should be over just as we get ready for the pudding and Karin will be joining us with the other three," He grinned wider than before and adjusted himself to sit more upright. Shisui giggled lightly at him and they quickly had a non-verbal argument where Naruto won by sticking out his tongue. His gaze returned to Tayuya as she opened her present, gasping and smilling excitedly, lifting the blade out of the bod delicately. Sasuke was talking to her and took the blade, quickly turning it over to reveal a hollow handle, perfectly sized to store her flute. Turning it back over he pointed out several holes near the joint between the handle and blade. Naruto wasn't sure what he was saying but he figured it'd just make the flute louder. She put the blade in the box and jumped at him, hugging him tightly. Temari smiled and the two had a quick conversation about using the tools Sasuke got them, making Naruto wonder what Sasuek could've got the fan weilder. Until she snapped open a smaller version of her fan, snapping it shut again, Naruto keenly saw her thumb slide up a hidden switch and a blade ejected from the top. Tayuya nodded to whatever Temari said and they smiled at each other. Shortly after the Kazekage himself came in, greeting everyone warmly, Shisui, Itachi, Kakashi and Anko and Tayuya all bowed. Temari gave him a hug while Naruto, Katsui, the Sannin and Sasuke gave him a hand shake, Izuku called out a greeting before walking out of the kitchen to give the man a welcoming hug. "I take it the journey was cold?"

"Of course Izuku, it's the middle of winter and we travelled through a desert," Gaara's level voice brought a smile to Naruto's face as he made his way to the door and hugged the redhead. Karin appeared in the door shortly after Kankuro made his quiet entry and greetings. She gave Naruto a hug before suggesting a prank for Ino and Sakura, which he quickly shot down. Gaara stepped towards the kitchen, "Do you need any help cooking? We considered bringing some additional food before realizing it would've gone cold,"

"No, not at all Gaara, you just help Naruto and Sasuke lay the table, we're still expecting the Sarutobi family to drop by, Asuma's finally out of the hospital,"

"That is good to hear," Rasa sighed "It is always wonderful for a shinobi to recover, Karin's teachings have advanced our medical knowledge beyond what we could've dreamed of," He smiled "Rebuilding has gone well then,"

"Thank Kami," Tsunade waved a hand, "We've had some rogues try con us and some minor villages make threats, but Izuku and Katsuki are quick workers, I don't think I ever saw a supposed war end quicker,"

"Someone tried to declare war?" Naruto sat up in his seat, Katsuki laughed,

"Yeah, they tried to, had one fight last a few hours against some of their best and the brown flag went right up,"

"You mean the white flag?"

"No, the brown flag, cus they used someone's soiled undies!" He cackled, "Barely had time to stretch, Izuku was happy with it though so he gave me a good spar when we came back," A knock at the door and Naruto answered to find Konohamaru, Hiruzen, Asuma and Kurenai stood wrapped warmly, Asuma was beign supported by Kurenai while Hiruzen kept glancing towards him.

"Come on in guys, we've been waiting for you," He guided Asuma to a seat and made sure the man was alright before letting him rest in the chair. 

"Lots of people tonight, I daresay a few more than the last great gathering,"

"It that what we're calling them Gramps?" Izuku chuckled from the kitchen, "Well, if it pleases the council, dinner is going to be ready any minute, table's big enough, room's got plenty of space, you're free to eat at the coffee table if you want to feel a bit more relaxed and we have a tray for Asuma to save him getting up again," Everyone made small cheers at the thought of food before relaxing small talk ensued.

"Alright, grub is up!" Izuku laid the table with Itachi and Kakashi. People began getting into seats, Naruto was again at the head, with Gaara on his left and Izuku on his right. Next to Izuku was Katsuki while Sasuke was opposite Gaara. Hiruzen sat opposite Kankuro next as the three Sannin sat Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru, with Temari, Rasa and Karin respectively, Tayuya sat opposite Konohamaru, Kakashi and Anko after that. Itachi with Shizune and Shisui with Kurenai sat at the edge of the table. Ino, Sakura and Asuma still slept in their respective chairs, a premade plate covered by a bowl sat on a tray next to each sleeper. No-one made a move for anything. "Uh,"

"You're the head Naruto, you go first, grab a cracker," Izuku explained slowly, the blond nodded and eargerly grabbed the shiny item in front of him. "Right, shall we all do it at once? Going around would take a lot of time,"

"Alright," Naruto nodded and every grabbed their crackers, "Oh but just quickly, when you're in this household, or on the compound at all, we're all equals at the table, so don't stand on formality, at all, ever," Several postures relaxed and crackers were grabbed. After several small bangs, Naruto gazed down the table, opposite him, directly at the end of the table was an empty chari, not unusual by itself. No, the strange part was that it was set for somebody who clearly wasn't there. A plate, complete with cutlery and a cracker, "Are, are we missing anyone?" Izuku smiled as Naruto just looked to him, Rasa and the visitors from Suna all looked to Izuku along with the Sarutobi at the table. The greenette calmly got up from the table and began walking upstairs. "Does any," Those that had looked at Izuku, watched him leave, while the rest remained silent. Creaking and then a muffled conversation. They heard footsteps as the stairs began to creak and Naruto felt his eyes widen as a second set of creaking paces joined the first. Cursing himself for sitting out of view of the stairs, Naruto tried leaning, only for Katsuki to grab his arm and shake his head. He huffed and leant back in his seat as Izuku reappeared, clearly with someone hiding behing him.

"I suppose now is a good time for you to open your present I guess," The greenette moved out of the way to reveal a familiar figure. Dressed in a white sleeveless blouse and a green dress the figure smiled sweetly to Naruto, who slowly climbed from his chair, Hiruzen and Kurenai gaped slack-jawed at the woman. Rasa quizzicallt gazed to the woman and leant towards Temari, after quick whispers his eyes also widened in shock as he relaid the message to a curious Karin. The redhead gaped first at the woman and then to Izuku and back. The woman had a bow stuck to her forehead comically as he stepped tentatively towards her.

"M-m-mom?" She smiled gently at him. "Is it really you?"

"Real as can be Naruto," He hugged her as tears pricked at his eyes. "I'm back my baby boy," Her arms draped around him and something in him broke at how complete it made him feel. Gently he let her go and wiped his eyes, turning to Izuku.

"Y-you," He began, his voice threatening to break, "How did you?" Izuku grinned knowlingly.

"It took a lot of studying, some seal work, a really fancy jutsu Lord Second didn't finish along with a few notes of Orochimaru's, your," He scratched the back of his head, "Or our I guess, mom's chakra, a bit of chakra borrowed from Sasuke to give her stores, Katsuki and Sakura for chakra nature, a bit of help from Ino with a mental step, and the tiniest piece of luck," He grinned boyishly, "Basically we resurrected her!" The greenette took his seat and donned the paper crown which was, ironically, a bright orange. "I'll give you a better explanation later but for now let's eat!" Kushina took her seat opposite a surprised Kurenai. Naruto sat at the head of the table quietly.

"Wait, mom's going to be the same age as when I was born," He muttered, Izuku leant over as he added turkey to his plate.

"Actually, thanks to the chakra she sealed with you, her age increased when we managed to give her solid form, Kushina Uzumaki is now forty years old, she looks younger because y'know, lack of stress, lack of physical aging and the like, but you can see the effects of her older chakra have had on the body," He grinned, "Her hair is already substantially longer than recorded close to her death," Kakashi began talking animatedly across Itachi and Shisui to Kushina. Naruto began smiling as he realized, he had his mom back! Gently falling into laughter with Katsuki and Sasuke while Izuku spoke with Gaara about whatever he couldn't remove the grin from his face.

Sakura and Ino woke up just as the others finished dinner, Asuma halfway through and joining in the conversation from his seat. The man was still in disbelief about Kushina when the girls woke, looking at Kushina and getting upset because they had missed the reunion. Naruto promptly kissed them both and thanked them regardless if they missed it or not because they had helped Izuku to bring her back. His mom and quickly misunderstood and assumed the blond a womanizer, until Izuku pulled her aside and explained the situation. Hinata eventually appeared and greeted Kushina in shock before immediately going to Gaara for comfort. He watched the green eyes of his brother knowingly look at the pair like a plan coming together. Resolving to scold him later about it Naruto just enjoyed the festivities as people began playing completely non-Christmas games. Cards was chief among them, with snakes and ladders another, some Shogi boards and Chess boards were also introduced and Izuku introduced a game called Othello that he'd gained from his world on a trip back during his and Katsuki's Samurai training. Something else to question him about later. While the games went on, Izuku, Sasuke and Katsuki went on to divide bedrooms and floor space up, two excess rooms and a host of new people didn't divide easily. Eventually it was concluded that Sasuke, Temari and Tayuya would share a bed while sharing the room with Naruto, Ino and Sakura, who would also share a bed. Izuku and Katsuki would host Shisui, Kankuro and Gaara. Hinata, Tsunade, Karin and Kushina would bunk together in the third, Shizune and Itachi would share a room with Kakashi and Anko and Asuma and Kurenai. Rasa, Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Hiruzen would bunk in the last room. Konohamaru was unfortunate enough to get a futon with Izuku and Katsuki, but he didn't complain, instead just grateful to not be stuck on the sofa. Once the plan was approved by all, Izuku and Katsuki set clones to work. Itachi began heating some mulled wine for the adults and much to Naruto's dismay, Kushina and Izuku _both_ stopped him from getting a glass. Tsunade was quick to take Kushina aside and talk to her about more personal topics than the light hearted chatter. Eventually it decended into a massive game of poker, made up of several teams. Groups began breaking off to get ready for bed until it was just the Uzumakis left. Izuku dealt the hand out. "Izuku how did you revive Mom?" The blond checked his cards. Izuku flipped over the first two cards before explaining.

"Lord Second designed many a jutsu, almost all of them were left incomplete, you remember the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu Orochimaru used to bring First and Second back?" He nodded, of course he remembered that, it had been a massive day, beating Neji then Shukkaku and finally Lord Second. "Second designed it, it's a forbidden one like the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but we used some notes and made a modification of it,"

"You what?!" Kushina exclaimed, forgetting about her cards, "Izuku do you know how dangerous that is?!"

"We didn't managed to find a body, so that was out, luckily when we introduced her chakra into the world it began to take weak form," Izuku continued calmly, "I had to put some seals up to stop it dissapating, Sasuke helepd with some of his chakra to boost hers, Katuski used Wind release while Sakura used Water release so help the chakras blend into hers, once we had done that Ino connected to my mind as I held onto the tiniest fragments of Mom's chakra," Everyone was enraptured, "She took the mind aspect of the chakra, the part that allowed the chakra to be her when you met her in the isolation chamber, taking it with her back into her mind, before transferring herself into what effectively was just a husk of Mom, if it's a bit hard to follow, Mom had her soul sealed with her chakra, when I took her from the seal, I took her chakra and the soul, while we used her chakra to reconstruct her body I held onto the soul, which Ino took from me and then put into the body while I kept the chakra stable enough to be a host," Rubbing the back of his neck he hissed "It was dangerous, incredibly risky, but it was a calculated risk, something er were able to minimize, this time, the only reason we were able to pull it off was because she had so much chakra stored in you, if we tried it with a different person, like Second, it'd be a damn sight harder because we wouldn't have his chakra, so we'd have to find people with each Release, nine to be precise because even Katsuki can't use two Releases without them combing, using just five would mean chakra exhaustiong and we'd be looking at possibly five lives to revive one, the next issue would be using taht chakra to recreate the body and finding Second's soul which we just don't have," Naruto nodded, following, if only barely. It all made a sort of sense and honestly he was just glad to have his mom back.

"So I have three sons and two nieces now?" Kushina lifted the corner of her cards, taking a quick glance before leaving them flat. "Tsunade gave me a brief story and I'm greatful to you Izuku, for taking such care of Naruto, I know we haven't known each other long, but I'm proud to call you my son,"

"Careful any further and I might start showing emotions," The confident smirk of the greenette cleverly hid his watering eyes.

"And Katsuki, I understand you joined the party late, but you've also shown to be such a wonderful person, again I am proud that you are a son of mine," Katsuki was less subtle about his reaction, wiping his eyes and muttering about 'damn dust' before sniffling and looking at his cards.

"You really mean it?" He quickly looked over to her, hope sparkling in his eyes.

"Of course I do Katsuki, why wouldn't anyone be proud of you?" The teen smiled as his eyes watered,

"Deeprooted psychological issues prevent both he and I from fully accepting kindness, praise or anything positive without reservation, doubt and disbelief," Kushina looked over to Naruto, who just leant to her and quietly whispered,

"Abuse, by a lot of different women in their own families, I'm sure they'll explain later," He summarized neatly. Kushina just made an 'O' with her mouth before getting furious.

"There's nothing you can do about it Mom, our old lot were just acting as normal to the world we come from, I'll explain more at a later date when the isn't a mood to uphold," Izuku almost choked when he called her mom and Kushina didn't miss it, getting almost twice as made before calming down. "Technically we also have Gaara as a brother too, he's of the Suna branch of the Uzumaki, but clan doesn't mean much in Sunagakure, so we don't worry about it much," The redhead had long since gone to bed, having become a long heavy sleeper after thirteen years of insomnia. "However as you've probably guessed, he's still family and nothing will ever change that," Kushina nodded and gaped at Karin's cards, before Tayuya smirked and revealed a Royal Flush. The cards were swept away, "Right, everyone up to bed now, we've had a late night tonight as is, Naruto's heading to Turtle Island early tomorrow morning with Kakashi so he needs sleep," The greenette tucked the cars away as Karin and Tayuya trudged away upstairs. Kushina gave each of the boys a hug, noticing how Katsuki and Izuku both froze up at the gesture for microseconds before hugging her back. After hugging Naruto, she held onto his shoulders, looking him in the eye and smiling supportively,

"Merry Christmas Naruto,"

"Merry Christmas Mom," He was close to crying again,

"I love you," His knees almost gave away as he began crying, Izuku and Katsuki looked on bittersweetly until Kushina pulled them back again, "I love you two as well," Even Izuku began breaking at the words, "I know I haven't known you that long, any of you really, but I do know you are my sons, by blood or not, and I could not ask for three better boys than you, who have faced demons, that some adults I knew would flee from, and come out stronger gor it the other side, who are so closely knit that you can converse without opening your mouths," All three boys began weeping with joy and relief as finally, they all had the one thing they'd truly, dearly needed.

They finally had a parent.

* * *

Rumi knew she'd find him again, obviously. With a person like Kage, you can't _not_ run into him after a while. She just wasn't expecting it to be in a shop is all, _especially_ a corner store inspecting wrapping paper. At first she didn't recognize him, because _duh_ , he was covered in shadows and a cloak when they met. It also didn't help that she couldn't look at his face directly, not for not wanting to, but when she did her gaze would often go _just_ too far and end up looking just past his head. Planning to face him after missing his face again, she ducked down as several people charged into the store and began threatening the cashier. Thugs, it was the perfect time to sow some confusion and get Kage out, now all she,

"If you could please not do this ladies, I need to get some other chores done tonight," No, you fucking idiot! Just stay low and let a heroine like her deal with it.

"OOh, some dough and a toy, Christmas really has come this year," A voice jeered "Don't worry tall, dark and tasty, we'll make sure you have some fun real soon," Peering from her spot, Rumi saw Kage challenging the group with a roll of wrapping paper. "You just stay on,"

"I really must decline your offer, you see I'm already taken," Aw shucks.

"Ha! We know guys gotta take lotsa chicks, so don't act like you're a loyal scout," Wait, did Rumi really forget that?

"Oh, no you misunderstand, I was simply trying to be polite, what I mean is, none of you are my type, and you can go burn in hell," Stifling her laughter Rumi had to admire the spine Kage had.

"Looks like we got a picky one here girls," The voice cheered, several responses of changing that real soon and Rumi felt sick that people could think so self-assuredly. A heavy sigh from Kage as a woman approached,

"I guess we are doing this the hard way," Adjusting his hold on the wrapping paper he jabbed it into the approaching woman's stomach before snapping it up. While she was still dazed he spun the roll around and whacked her down. He grabbed another roll in his free had and twirled them both while the other women growled and begn activating quirks. Rumi couldn't move, but she couldn't look away either. Kage moved like it was a dance, grace and purpose with every step. Jabbing a woman in the stomach and rolling over her as she doubled over he spun on his heel and caught two women by their cheeks, dazing them. He then jumped into the air, gaining some very impressive height, before kicking both hard enough to knock them out. Reflexively he dodged a stab and struck his elbow into the woman's face, her body crumpled. Turning around he tossed one role up and swung the other like a golf club directly into the first woman's face, knocking her out cold. Inspecting the rolls another time he put them both back before walking towards the exit, "Sorry for the trouble, Miruko, you could've helped at any point," The bunny hero cursed him as the store turned to look at her blankly, then at the bodies on the floor and back to the exit.

"You get back here!" Rumi made after him as he stood outside the door. He crouched low and Rumi hopped before jumping and following him as he jettisoned into the air. His appearance changed and he was back in his cloak, the hood pulled up. Rumi began to descend as Kage just kept gliding, soon he'd landed on a rooftop three ahead of her. The cloak whirled as he turned around to face her. "I just wish to talk,"

"If you are going to talk do so quickly, I am on a time limit," Kage wasn't rude, he was in a hurry. Rumi ran over and looked up to him. So she's a bit short, gotta problem with it?! 

"How did you do that? Wrapping paper crumples almost immediately when you hit anything with it,"

"I used a trade secret to make it harder to break, while I was holding it, it could've shattered bones, how are you injuries?"

"Non-existant, you healed them up perfectly last we met, which reminds me, how did you catch my kick? Trade secret or?"

"Training, lots of it, for a long time, tearing muscles and making them grow again, twelve years of breaking limits and nine of doing it every day I could," That sounds impossible, "I can't give you the routine because your body would break before the really hard stuff," Rumi pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow. "If you wish to try it, I will give you a routine I did at eight years old, when I had to construct my own routine for the first time," A small notebook appeared from, somewhere and he held out a hand. Rumi looked at it before pulling out her own notebook. It wasn't used for much, just trying to figure out who Kage was, suffice to say it was very empty. "I'd give up on this by the way, you won't know who I am until I reveal myself, and I don't plan on doing that anytime soon," Handing the book back to her he'd coped over a rountine for her along with what appeared to be a wrist guard, "You don't put work into your arms, change that, this will keep help your lackluster defence," The grey material was put on her lower left arm quickly strapped into place as Kage slipped the ring of the palm protector over her middle finger. The protectors were one piece, with a soft fabric on the underside keeping the fit comfortable. "Don't die on me won't you?" Rumi opened her mouth to retort when,

"Midorikage!" A voice barked, familiar grey capture scarf landing around his ankle. The moment it tensed Kage disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves. Erazerhead landed next to where he'd been stood, her scarf now loose.

"It is just Kage right now Erazer, a sign of respect to one of the more, civilized heroes I have conversed with," Rumi jumped as he spoke from behind her, "How has Eri settled in?"

"She's not terrified of me anymore, and she's begun to smile, but she wants to know where the green man is,"

"Tell her he is dealing with a lot of bad people, once I'm done I shall return," Kage folded his arms and stood side on to the duo. "If she asks who I am, I'm nobody,"

"That's not a good enough answer Kage,"

"Well Aizawa, maybe you could be a parent and just say I've gone home, some powerful people are threatening it right now so I'm very fucking busy," Kage strode towards the edge.

"Where is your home?"

"Classified Miss Usagiyama, it's not you could find it if I told you anyway, chin up Little Bunny, I won't be gone long," There was a chesire grin in his voice that caused the rabbit hero to smirk and the underground hero to groan. "Until then I bid you both adieu, don't disappoint me," Turning around Kage bowed before disappearing over the edge. Both women gasped and ran to the edge, only to see leaves falling in the wind.

"So," Rumi rounded on Erazerhead, "Care to tell me how you know Kage?"

* * *

Itsuka faced the wall, she'd unknowingly put herself in a dead end. Shit! She had a whole host of drug dealers after her now and she'd just cornered herself. She heared their foosteps as they joined her down the alley, dark grins on their faces.

**Tap, tap, tap**

She pressed herself up against the wall as the dealers slowly stalked forwards, getting ready to kill her.

**Tap, tap, tap**

There was no way she'd get out of this one, even calling Kage would leave him getting hurt in her place. Closing her eyes she waited for the end, just wishing she could've met Kage one more time, and told him how she feels.

**Tap, tap, tap**

Wait, those were. Those were footsteps! Was there someone coming to save her? A familiar shadowy figure emerged from the corner, running at high speeds. Kage passed over the group with ease, running along the wall and leapt at her, landing with an immediate twist to face the drug dealers. "Ladies," His voice was curt, "I highly, highly advise you forget this ever happened and go home, it will end badly for you," Itsuka was close to tears with relief as his voice crashed over her. "I don't want to fight today, it's supposed to be a good day, I got my brother back, we had a nice family dinner, I don't want to ruin my evening fighting some untrained hard asses,"

"Ha, a man? Oh we'll make sure you have a nice evening, then we'll go get your brother an-,"

"Big mistake," Kage was against the woman in moments, "See I was just going to knock you out and let the police deal with you, but now you've threatened a member of my family, I'm going to kill all of you," Blood spurted into the air as he kicked off the body, which just crumpled to the floor. Itsuka lifted a hand to her mouth as she saw the single slash across the neck. Kage flipped in the air and several almost invisible needle like projectiles were thrown from his cloak and each woman hit the floor. He landed neatly on the floor and walked over to the bodies, pulling his needles out and wiping the traces of blood on the bodies. "Do you fear me yet Itsuka?"

"What?"

"I just killed six people in front of you, without remorse, without regret, in seconds, do you fear me yet?" She remembered the conversation they'd had months ago, the first time she'd successfully called him to her.

"I, no, of course I don't Kage, you saved my life, plus the drug ring just got a lot smaller, you got five dealers and the supplier," Kage turned to her as he stowed the needles away, "Uh, say, what are those?"

"Senbon needles, so fine they're almost invisible, require great skill to throw and greater vision to find," Alright, humble brag, "I spent days learning how to use them properly, all of them died without pain, in mere moments," His level tone sent a shiver down her spine. Itsuka looked at his dark figure and stepped forwards with a shiver. Before she could say anything, Kage had taken off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders, "Any reason you came without a coat tonight?" A mask was clipped in place over his face.

"Quieter,"

"Then you're wearing the wrong clothes," It was clicked into place and the hood pulled up. He sweeped her off her feet into a bridal carry again, Itsuka smiled in the dark of the hood. It had been a while since he'd picked her up like this, always appearing in her bedroom. They walked up the wall of the dead end and leapt into the night sky. Even with the wind Itsuka felt warm under the cloak and feeling Kage's heartbeat again, she felt _safe_. They landed by her bedroom window before they were once again in the middle of her room. He laid her down on the bed and reached for the light, turning it off before turning it on again. The only difference was the pile of leaves now sat on her bedroom floor. The shadows that clung to his body slowly drifted from his torso and arms, revealing muscluar defined limbs, his chest was covered in a black sleevless shirt that moved up his neck, underneath a grey flak jacket, his shoulders were left bare with gloves coming up halfway to up his upper arm. From his elbow down was a metal looking protector and a plate on the back of his hand. "The cloak is incredibly insulated, it will keep you a cool temperature no matter where you travel,"

"Do you,"

"I have many, many more, giving you this no issue, Merry Christmas," Itsuka sat up on her bed.

"Can you take the mask off please?"

"I can't reveal who I am to you, it would only seek to cause problems in the future," His hand struck out and another cloak shimmered into it. Swinging it on he pulled the hood up before taking off the mask, his face covered once again in darkness. Itsuka pulled him down to her face and stared at him. The tiniest of red was visible where his eyes sat. He looked away from a moment, reaching into a pocket before putting something into her hand, "This is your present, do not lose it, do not break it," She looked to find a porcelian mask over her open palm, it was white with no markings. "You are free to paint it as well, decorate it how you see fit, you'll find that it will protect you from most attacks or blows," She looked up to his covered face in shock, "If you are continuing you escapade you'll need a better disguise than some cheap carnival mask," In her other hand was put what she assumed would fix it to her face. "Keep the band under your hair and you'll be able to take it off and put it on as you need, it will just click on and off, I should warn you, you can't wash the paint off it once it is done, use a sponge and soapy water to clean dirt and blood from it, when you can, go and see Yumiko Musha, tell her Midorikage has selected you as one of the few, she will train you to fight unarmed," Setting both aside gently she looked up again at his face, "Merry Christm-mmph!" She grabbed his chest and pulled him into a searing kiss. Closing her eyes she let the action say the words she had been too afraid to say for far too long. Her hand snaked into his hair and around his back, while his gently grabbed her hips. He pulled her against his body gently. Once Itsuka pulled away she left a hand on his cheek. "Are you sure about this?" He whispered "You're sure you can do it?" There wasn't a question if the government could take him, Kage could take care of himself and then some, that only meant,

"If you have to take several wives so be it, just don't go leaving me behind," Smiling through the pain in her heart she felt the warmth from Kage's smile as he kissed her forehead.

"Like I could leave my Cuddle Bug behind," Joy sparked through her at the nickname, she let him go long enough to climb from the bed, quickly taking the cloak off to get changed before fixing it back around her shoulders. Kage had sat on her bed was she returned. Tapping his shoulder to let him know he could turn around, Itsukae laid down, pulling him with her. As he laid with a groan she huddled against him, taking in the scent, the warmth, the electricity at his touch. She took it all in as much as she could, putting it all into her soul since she couldn't lock it away in her heart.

Because he'd leave with it tomorrow. But that was okay since she knew

He'd leave a part of his behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I got an equal number of comments saying yes and no, so I flipped a coin, I couldn't wait to get this chapter out because I just love writing this story. That being said, boom Kushina is back, I've tried making it a believe type of revival that I can explore later since i've put some thought into how it works, instead of just dues ex jutsu-ing it like 'we used an ancient jutsu we found but we aren't going to use it on everybody because plot' type of things, tell me if it works at all.  
> Happy holidays  
> This is Phantom  
> Fadint up


	24. Confrontations galore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time flies when you train. Apparently.
> 
> "Who are,"  
> "I figured that would be obvious,"
> 
> "Shit's hit the fan fucking quickly!"
> 
> "I wasn't expecting him!"

It had taken almost two years, including both Christmas breaks, for Naruto to start truly controlling the immense chakra Kurama had kept at bay. He was getting close to controlling the eighth full tail, on the verge of starting with a piece of the ninth. The blond faced the challenge all day for three days a week intially, when that showed little progress they upped it to four days a week and the five. Now he trained physically for two days while meditating and trying to control the chakra in the isolation chamber. It had become a lot harder without his mom to help but he prefered having her alive at home than just a chakra signature in the chamber. Of course he still had to do it on his own, because in Izuku's words _relying on help to do this will only make it harder when you have to do it on your own._ The blond didn't think that was entirely true but he went along with it anyway. Initially everyone had been optimistic abotu him picking it up quickly but after both B and Yamato had to get involved with an incident at five tails. Well, people were just looking forward to having him home. He was seventeen, almost eighteen and now he was about to fight in a war that'd change the world, no doubt he'd be a lead charge too. The others would try stop him, sure but Izuku and Sasuke wouldn't. Those two knew him well enough to know, Naruto Uzumaki doesn't sit back and let other people fight for him, he might not be a genuis but boy does he know how to improvise. Naruto's game plans consisted of 'something _Rasen-_ something', and ' _Shadow Clone Jutsu_ ' but his improvisation was much more dangerous. He used everything he had after then, fire style, water style, his stronger wind style, even the limited earth and lightning he knew, despite everyone not letting him learn Chidori, because it was Sasuke's signature like Kakashi's Twin Lightning Shiver. He sighed and continued to sit in the chamber. Kurama pushed the last bit of the eighth tail and Naruto felt his cannines extend while the chakra vied for animalistic control. And so the fight began. Not between Kurama and Naruto, but rather Kurama's chakra and Naruto. There was a difference. The great fox didn't want to fight Naruto, his chakra just brought out the wild animal side to Naruto, which the blond then had to fight to maintain control. Forcing the emotions back into check he opened his eyes and mumbled, "You are _mine_ , not the other way around," The chakra seemed pacified and Naruto sat still, letting his body adjust to the chakra. Kurama grinned at him before pulling the chakra back. B appeared in front of him in the physical world.

"Yo Nine, I think it's time, gotta come with me, it's something ya need to see," Naruto got to his feet tiredly, after the first six months stockholm syndrome had set in and he'd grown used to his fellow jinchuuriki's eccentricities. They walked out of the room and out of the temple. "It'll be a tough fight see, but you goatta win, wree!!" There were still hiccups to the man's rhyhming. "Helps man and beast both, gotta sit in the waterfall of truth," Some severe hiccups, but B meant well. Naruto knew it, so he didn't get mad anymore, midly aggravated sure, bit tired of it sometimes, but not angry, not any more. He grinned as they head towards the waterfall next to the entrance of the underground temple. B stopped at the edge of the lake, Naruto continued until he stood in front of the falling wall of water. He closed his eyes and stood unerneath it before turning around and sitting down. Despite everything he felt stone dry.

 _"Why?"_ A voice asked him _"Why do you bother doing this for them?"_ Naruto opened his eyes to see himself staring at him from the small island in front of the waterfall. It was almost a [aerfect copy, save for the eyes. The whites were black and the irises blood red.

"Who are you?"

_"I figured that would be obvious I'm you, but I don't know why you bother doing this, they will only shun you once the dust settles,"_

"You don't know that,"

 _"Nor do you,"_ His copy reasoned, _"Why risk your neck defending them when all they did was isolate us? They made up rules to decieve us, lies to hurt us, falsehoods to shun us,"_

"Yeah, I know that, and yet here we are,"

_"Why?! Why waste your time, leave your family, leave them to their own suffering they wrought upon themselves, after you beat Pain everyone suddenly fakes familiarity, you know it is only superficial, don't you,"_

"Of course I do, Konoha is home to ninja, people who make a living being superficial,"

_"And yet you stand and guard them from threats irrelevant to you, you could've stayed in the Land of Iron and let Pain give them what they had coming!"_

"Again, yeah, I could've, I could've left them all behind, easily, all the people that hurt me, scorned me, but who else was there?"

_"What does it,"_

"Kakashi was there, so was Ino, Shikamaru and Choji too, Old Man Third was there as well, Itachi and Shisui were there too," A small smirk, "I didn't save the village for the people, I saved the village for my family,"

_"Oh, so you finally admit you aren't the,"_

"I never claimed to be a beacon of forgiveness, or pillar of what is right," A non-commital shrug, "I never said any of that, those are just the things people like to call me, just like demon child and waste of space and brat, Aunty Tsunade loves that one," Walking forwards he looked at the physical form, he knew it was just the darkness in his heart, hence the name of the waterfall. It was the true feelings he was afraid to admit, something he kept close to his heart. "I know you, you know me, if we fought it would serve no purpose, we attack and defend exactly the same way," Stepping closer and closer he continued, "Y'know, Izuku once told me something long ago that I never understood, until now," Hugging his darker self he closed his eyes, "It's important to forgive yourself, before you forgive others," The copy seemed to grow weaker, "Not because you are at fault, but because if you do not forgive yourself for holding onto it, you will never truly let it go, only after you shed the weight of the grudge from your shoulders, can you truly take the weight of guilt of another's," His arms tensed, "I am sorry for letting you fester and hurt without addressing you, but it's okay now, we can move on," The figure began dissolving away lifting into the air. Naruto watched the dissolving, his heart already feeling lighter. 

His eyes opened as he stood under the waterfall, taking himself out of the water and walking towards the group. His thumb lifting gave them all grins. "Naruto, ya did it yo!"

"Yeah, I guess I did," He grinned, "So what did that do?" Kakashi spoke before B could rap.

"From what we could translate, it means the chakra madness is easier to prevent, you couldn't fight it before because it wasn't concentrated enough for the waterfall's effect, narrowing it all into one tail meant you could finally address whatever feelings were causing it,"

"So I should have control of all nine tails now?"

 **'Sounds about right kit, you should still be careful though, you might lose it if you lose focus'**

'Thanks Kurama' The blond grinned as he felt the chakra flood his system. It didn't overwhelm him this time as the others were bathed in an yellow orange light. They gaped in shock as Naruto looked at his hands. His whole body and gone a yellow colour with black highlights and shapes, and where did the haori come from? 

"That's one impressive chakra shroud," Yamato noted, "Actually it's really impressive, I can see how you'd be an ace in the hole,"

"Alright, we finally did it," The blond grinned as Kurama took his chakra back. "Let's get home," They all yelped as he made a Shadow Clone and grabbed them, "See ya later B!"

"See ya soon little dude!" B cheered as both parties disappeared in joint flashes of yellow light.

"SWEET BABY SHINIGAMI!" Shisui leapt back onto one foot as the group appeared in the living area. "Naruto?" The blond grinned and held out his fist,

"Better believe it Shisui,"

"Well, about time you got finished, you need to head Tsunade's office, like right now, the others are there, I'll go let Ino know you made it back,"

"Thanks, I'm off," He appeared in the middle of his team in seconds. This time no-one reacted wildly, just muted greetings and Sakura taking his hand in hers. "What have I missed?"

"Unfortunately, quite a bit, we didn't discuss at Christmas but it's been hectic while you've been away," Tsunade was frowning with her hands folded in front of her face. "The Akatsuki and ROOT have been heavily active, they've been launching attach after attack, they have foot soldiers called Zetsu, they just keep coming," She nodded towards his greenette brother, "Izuku and Katsuki ran some investigations and it's because of a nin known as Zetsu, who is split into a black and white half, his white half seems to beable to create living clones, not constructs like Shadow Clones but actual living breathing clones capable of individual thought, he has created a thousand and one of them and they just keep coming,"

"What they lack in everything they make up for in sheer numbers, imagine a whole country of Shadow Clones, ready to charge you," Izuku grunted, Naruto looked to see he'd changed his hairstyle since last Christmas, the sides of his head were shorter than before, while the top of his hair had been left alone and pulled back into a man-bun. His face sported a few new scars as well. "Bastards can't fight but they are scrappy,"

"The war already began?" Naruto looked at his team, "And you didn't,"

"Because the war would mean we attack too, right now we're just defending Naruto, we have to set up squadrons, make united fronts, we don't have time so we have to but as much as we can," Izuku folded his arms, "Now that you're back though we can finally," He froze, "Naruto, eyes," The blond thought for a minute as Izuku grabbed Katsuki.

"SHIT!" He grabbed Sakura and Sasuke, they moved through space in moments and found Izuku and Katsuki already charging, wait, was,

Was that MADARA UCHIHA?!

It was clearly just an impure reincarnations, from the cracks along the skin and the irregular eyes, black whites and grey scelera. The blond didn't hesitate to dive in however, quickly joined by Sasuke and Sakura as the five tried to attack the zombie shinobi. "How long have you been back then dear prince?" Izuku quipped as he rolled over a blade,

"You are the ones Nagato entrusted to guard my eyes? Pathetic," It was a smooth voice that would get almost anyone to do as he said.

"Your eyes?" Katsuki paused long enough to recieve a punch to the gut. 

"Yes, my eyes," Madara growled, "I put them into young Nagato shortly before my death," Naruto grunted as he lifted his arms to block a particularly powerful kick.

"That's impossible, the implant would've killed him!" Izuku barely avoided the large war fan from swatting him into a wall.

"Except he was an Uzumaki, part of the Senju bloodline, it meant he could weild both Rinnegan succesfully, I do my research boy," Madara spat as he deflected Sasuke's Chidori and blocked Sakura's Cherry Blossom Crash. They all were sent rolling away. Getting up with groans, "If you're wondering how I made the Rinnegan, I took Hashirama's cells and mixed them with my own,"

"Which restored your eye when you used Inzanagi to rewrite your death," Sasuke grunted, "If you weren't a sick bastard that let your clan get killed I'd call you a genius," 

"You pick up fast young one, you must be Sasuke, the one Itachi was too weak to kill," Three Sharingans activated, "I shall see to, you hold them as well?"

"A gift from a teacher of mine, just like Itachi Uchiha," Izuku growled, the four boys stared down the Ghost of the Uchiha, "Don't mock our sensei," Naruto moved first, his kick getting intercepted,

"And don't threaten my family," His body rotated and his other heel struck the man's face. The blond was thrown into Katsuki as Izuku and Sasuke charged. The revenette was avoided and grabbed by the back of his collar, used as a shield against Izuku's attack before both boys were sent back to square one.

"So that's how it feels," Izuku mused as he got up slowly. "Alright, I'm up," Madara merely wiped his face, getting the dirt from it.

"All of that and you can't even draw blood," Sakura joined the group as Izuku held up one hand. The five were immediately in ANBU gear and pulled out their weapons. Naruto held his kunai, Sasuke weilded his tanto, Katsuki held a steel staff while Sakura used trench knives like Asuma. Izuku however, the greenette was armed to the teeth, he had a pair of trench knives equipped while he held a tanto in his left hand, a staff was slung over his shoulder and a kunai in his right hand. The five fell into a formation with practised ease. Oh yeah, he might have been gone a year, but he was still Naruto Uzumaki, Squad Seven's Fox and it didn't matter how long he'd been gone, they would always fight as a unit.

"Wanna bet?" Izuku growled, both pairs of trench knives began glowing blue, Katsuki's staff gained a dangerous spike at one end. "Squad Seven, ready?"

"Yes Captain,"

"Then let's finish this fucker right here and," Madara disappeared in a flicker. "Shit," He muttered as they turned back to normal, "Guys?" Sasuke and Sakura both shook their heads, "Damn it,"

"What do you mean he got away with Rinnegan?!" A yelled at the meeting, "Do you,"

"Of course we know what that means A!" Izuku barked "We have been trying to prepare for this ever since before the summit! We put the Rinnegan in one of the most secure areas that only Naruto or I could've ever known about, and since B was with Naruto the entire time and I've been trying to save your ninja from suicide missions neither of us have had time to make sure it was safe!" The greenette was clearly very tired, Naruto put a hand on his shoulder and stepped past him.

"Raikage," His voice was level and gaze unflinching, "I think you are missing the part where we said Madara fucking Uchiha is back as an immortal reincarnated warrior for the opposing team, they only need the Rinnegan to convert the Nine Tailed beast chakra into the Ten tails,"

"He is only a summoned reincarnation, I don't,"

"Of course you don't you thick headed boar!" Naruto stuck out his arm to stop Izuku from charging the man, "Because you haven't bothered to understand how the jutsu works! If they know his full capabilities we'll just have another Madara Uchiha running unchecked ready to fucking destroy everyone," His arm tensed from the strain of holding the greenette back, who stopped took, a deep breath and let it out slowly in a guttural growl, "I need the best fighters from all five nations, if anyone is going to fight Madara we are going to need,"

"Surely your Uchiha can beat one of their own, one of them managed to,"

**Thunk**

"Mention the massacre, I dare you motherfucker," Naruto's eyes became slits, "It will be the last thing you do,"

"ARE YOU THREATENING ME CHILD?!" Tsunade made circles on the desk with her finger, Rasa was busy sharing a tea recipe with Mifune while Onoki and Mei simply traded information.

"Make no mistake Raikage," Rasa turned back to the meeting, "Kumo is not needed in this alliance, it never was, four of five will do nicely, hell Suna and Konoha were doing pretty well before _you_ decided since they threatened you it was a problem for _all_ of us, with Kiri and Iwa we have been able to locate their point of operations, Kumo has shared no information, made no deals, you have not helped at all, isolating yourself from the world, the other four have quickly grown close with peace being closer than ever,"

"The only outstanding issues right now," Mei took over, "Is the Akatsuki and Kumo's unwillingness to co-operate," A seemed to seeth in fury, "Do as you wish Raikage, leave if that's what you really want to do, but if you do, this Alliance will not allow Kumo to join until a newer, more open minded Raikage takes the hat from you," His dark skin slowly became red.

"It is your naivety that has slowed our process down Raikage," Onoki hummed "Even in my old age, I knew better than to continue bickering while something was on the horizon," His fist slammed down on the table.

"I WILL NOT BE,"

"YOU WILL SIT DOWN RAIKAGE!" Tsunade stood up, putting her hands on the table, "AND YOU WILL ACT LIKE AN ADULT OR YOU WILL NO LONGER BE PART OF THIS ALLIANCE!" She lowered her voice "As Kazekage stated, Kumo has been unhelpful and unneeded, Mizukage points out that your actions make you the second problem we will address after the Akatsuki is dealt with, and as Tsuchikage mentioned you have been a down right hinderance to our efforts, so you will either grow up or leave, either way make it quick, the _adults_ have to talk,"

"Ooh, you done pissed her off," Sakura pulled a face, "Nobody does that," Raikage sat down slowly along with Tsunade. "Anyway, as we were saying," She motioned to Izuku.

"I believe it is best to move all jinchuuriki into a place they can be monitored safely, where the five villages can all meet and act as neutral ground,"

"And where would this be?" Rasa offered, Izuku flicked his headm

"Where seals like that first originated of course, where Naruto hails from, a place that took four of the nations to just break the walls," Mei lifted a hand to her mouth and Onoki raised his eyebrows.

"Usushiogakure,"

Naruto stood with B and Gaara in front of the other six jinchuuriki. "Why are we here?" A man in a gently blue Yukata with an orange sash blew bubbles from a pipe.

"We are here for our protection, I'm sure you all know the Akatsuki?" Gaara folded his arms, "Many of you would've had help from Uzumaki Izuku to fend them off at one point or another, Fu, Yagura and Han, we know at least, I am Gaara, I hold Shukkaku, the One Tail"

"I remember him," A purple eyed man nodded gently, "He not only broke the genjutsu they had placed over me but healed my body and prevented me from dying, I'm the holder of the Three Tails, Isobu,"

"Yes the green haired boy saved me too," Yugito Nii folded her arms, "I am Yugito Nii, holder of the Two Tails, Matabi,"

"Wait does this mean you guys are like me?" A girl with mint green hair and orange eyes looked at the figures around her, "Awesome, I'm Fu and I have Chomei, the Seven Tails,"

"I do not see why we are here still," A man with a thick red beard folded his arms, "If there is someone threatening us, then we should simply stomp them," He paused "You may call me Roshi, holder of the Four Tails," Silence,

"You mean Son Goku, the Four Tails,"

"I am not soft enough to refer to the beast by it's name,"

"Very well Shinobi," Naruto waved a hand,

"You must excuse him, he's a bit bull headed," A man with a steaming furnace on his back explained, "I am Han, holder of Kokuo the Five Tails,"

"Nice to meet you Han," They took shook hands calmly,"This is Killer B, jinchuriki of the Eight Tails, Gyuki," He elbowed the man before he could wrap, "Who are you?" He turned to the man that had spoken first. "Does Saiken's jinchuriki not have a name?"

"I am Utakata, holder of Saiken, the Six Tails," He began blowing more bubbles. People began putting it all together as Naruto grinned, jabbing his chest with his thumb.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, partner of Kurama, the Nine Tails, brother to Izuku Uzumaki, the traveller that made all of you an ally, even if you don't admit it," There were several huffs and Fu grinned,

"You're the brother to the green haired dude?! That's so cooool! He totally saved me from these guys that pretended to be my friends, then he became my friend!" Naruto chuckled,

"Yeah Izuku's like that, you'll latch onto him after long enough and he just, lets you," He shrugged lightly "But anyway, the lot of us need to work together for now, whoever is after us has used a revival jutsu to bring back Madara Uchiha to hunt all of us down, he's tough so we'll have to keep an eye on each other," Han raised a hand, "Yeah?"

"But why are we in Uzushio?"

"Because it's the last place they'd expect us to live, we'll rebuild a few of these ruins and it'll be our defensive area," Naruto summarized, "Izuku should be joining us once he's dealt with the politics but until then, we should just,"

"I'm here," Everyone jumped as Izuku stepped out from behind Naruto, "The nine of you are currently under my jurisdiction, what that means is, do was you wish in here, but if you are attacked anywhere, you summon me to aid you, otherwise it's just go about your business and do not leave Uzushio,"

"And how did you settle this?" Utakata folded his arms as Izuku just smirked,

"I played a game of Blackjack,"

Naruto knew first, it wasn't a competition but Kurama alarmed him before Izuku blinked away. Naruto followed him through Raijin and came to see the other eight fighting Madara. "How the fuck did he get here?!" Izuku barked, charging in into the fray, "We told no-one except the Kage!"

"What the fuck is going on?"

"Shit's hit the fan fucking quickly, that's what!" Gaara yelled back as he barely avoided a knock out blow, "We don't know how he get here but he did, and now we're fucking boned,"

"I can pissing see that Gaara!" Izuku roared as he attacked the lone shinobi, "Can I get a few tails please?!"

"Too risky in such close space!" Killer B yelled "We'd just level the place more!" So he didn't rap in emergency situations, not exactly the news Naruto wanted but it'd help for now.

"Fucking, brilliant alright," Izuku kicked off the handle of the war fan, landing a safe distance away. "Naruto, stay out of nine form, I'll do this,"

"Great Extraction Jutsu!" Madara shouted as a clone appeared to fight them again. The real held Han by the throat as chakra began pooling in the jinchuuriki's gut. Green filled a corner of Naruto's vision as Izuku roared,

"Absolutely not!" Turning his head showed Izuku had changed. His hair began standing up, more like his style than Izuku's curls. The boy was caked in ethereal light that glowed a dark green, his eyes had gone into full _Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan_ spinning furiously, he too seemed to gain a haori as a chakra cloak with a high collar that came halfway up his face. Chakra seemed to come off in wisps as he stood still before he disappeared. The clone was suddenly chakra smoke that weirdly was absorbed by Izuku's haori, "Perish," Madara grinned like a madman as he fought Izuku one handed. Still it seemed he was stonger than the greenette. The chakra difference was clear but even with his speed Izuku still couldn't land a punch. Until Han was able to begin fighting back too. His foot kicked out, catching Madara in the ribs, giving Izuku enough time to kick the man with enough force to clear the group and then some. "Han, you good?"

"He just took some chakra, he didn't get Kokuo,"

"No, unfortunately I didn't, but I got the chakra, which is enough," Madara drawled, Naruto ran forwards, ready to attack. "You are not safe," He disappeared in a swirl as green streaked past Naruto and almost landed a solid blow. Izuku returned back to normal and roared at the sky. They all watched the greenette fall to his knees and punch the dirt. Naruto walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know, but at least he didn't get Kokuo entirely, that could've been a lot worse, Han would be dead,"

"I still wasn't strong enough," Izuku mumbled, "Even after everything I did, all the work, the hours practising, testing myself and I couldn't _fucking_ come close to his power," The greenette just got up and kicked a stone with all his might. "Fucking, gah! Right, this plan's a bust," He groaned to the air.

"That means it's back to the drawing board,"

"Yeah," Izuku admitted tiredly, the stone broke through a couple ruins as they turned around. Naruto nodded, impressed. "Alright, travel in groups of two at least, call for help and stay out of the larger villages, the more you move the harder it will be for them to pinpoint you," Everyone nodded, "Great, get moving,"

Another meeting happened hours later. Izuku leading it this time. "I've had to split them up and send them out," He summarized "We were setting up when Madara attacked us, how he found us we don't know but he did," Naruto's eyes thinned as he looked around the room, no-one truly stood out as a possible double agent. "There isn't much I can tell you about them anymore, I will be getting updates from them, often as possible, they are going to call for help and," There they were. Naruto made his steps just loud enough to stop Izuku talking. He pulled the note pad out of the ninja's grip and looked at it.

"A cypher? Bit unnessacary when all the villages are sharing information don't you think?" He smiled gently with a hidden danger behind it. Izuku caught it as the blond frisbeed it over.

"An incredibly complex cypher too, something old that isn't really used today," The greenette passed it around the table of kages. "It was used a lot however, during the warring states era, y'know, back when Madara was alive," The man panicked as he turned to Mei,

"Lady Mizukage I was only,"

"You were only what?" Mei interrupts, standing up to walk over.

"This peace is frail at best and it will not last, I was working with Madara to ensure a glorius future fo-urk," The man's eyes widened as a kunai was jabbed into his throat,

"You betrayed my trust and my confidence, you betreayed this alliance while it was still in it's infancy and worst of all, you betrayed your village," She spoke calmly, pulling the blade out and letting the man collapse dead on the floor.

"The fuck Mei?!" Izuku cried "I was going to break the genjutsu on that guy!"

"My bad," She shrugs and sits back down. "But now Madara won't know,"

"Unless he's got more than one spy here, genjutsu doesn't stop after one person," The greenette retorted

"YOU WERE WORKING WITH THEM?!" A stand up, "GIVE US,"

"I trust her with my life Raikage, in fact she saved it more than once a while back," Izuku turned to the grey haired man, "You, however, I don't trust you further than I could drop you, either get those anger issues sorted out or I will sort them out for you,"

"I to trust the Mizukage, she is one of us in all meanings of the word," Rasa stepped forwards, "She has proven over the last year and a bit that we can trust her,"

"While I share the sentiment, I am wary of the fact we found the spy with her first, simply because it was first, if they can infiltrate the Hidden Mist, who's to say they haven't already infiltrated the other villages?" Onoki voiced a concern,

"I understand that concern Tsuchikage, which is why from now on I will only be bringing Squad Seven with me to these meetings, they are the ones that have been working hardest against the Akatsuki for the longest,"

"I shall be bringing the Hyuuga heiress, she has proven invaluable to our defences along with my own son Kankuro and Karin Uzumaki, those three are aligned with the cause beyond all others,"

"I will bring Kurotsuchi, she's still got a soft spot for the Konoha ninja, I know she would never seek to damage relations or the peace we are building together," Onoki nodded gently, "That won't be,"

"No Onoki, we are both adults and we shall act as such," Izuku shook his head with a smile, "Besides I have not contacted her in a while, it will be nice to catch up," Mifune stepped into the conversation.

"Are we in agreement," Everyone nodded "Then this meeting is declared over,"

Naruto saw Izuku twitch minutely before he closed his eyes and sighed "Alright, I'm going to be completely upfront with you guys," The four rounded to him, "I'm planning on fighting Madara alone when the time comes," They all were about to step in, "I know, I, look the way things are going, we may well have to end up fighting an army, the Ten Tails and Madara and Obito, we can leave the army to the united Shinobi forces, we can leave Obito to Kakashi, but you'll need as much firepower as possible on thte Ten Tails, which is why I want you four to fight it with the other Jinchuuriki, meaning that I am left to fight Madara, so I have a favour to ask," They continued walking home slowly.

"Whatever you need," Sasuke agreed "Just tell us," The other three nodded, Naruto wasn't sure about it just yet but he knew Izuku would only do what he felt was doable. 

"Alright, I need to fight the family, I need everyone against me at once, because if I'm going to stand a chance against Madara, I will need more experience in actual fighting, the group of us are in a twilight zone, there's no-one quite on our level, so we can't improve, but everyone that we challenge is miles above us, so we get our assess handed to us, I still don't understand the Primal abilities that Katsuki and I possess but we need to maximize the ones we do know,"

"We'll help," Sakura lifted her hands to her chest, "And it means we'll have an easier time to bring Danzo in as well," Three of the four boys nodded with seriousness while Katsuki stuck his thumb up.

"We'll be the best no matter what," He proudly declared, "By the way, who's Madara Uchiha?" Naruto opened and shut his mouth for a moment, of course Katsuki wouldn't really know. The other blond chuckled for a minute before waving a hand, "I'm just messing, I know who he is, I'm surprised they left it this long to bring him back in all honestly,"

"Unless he didn't die until now," Izuku stated quietly, "He must've programmed an Izanagi to activate after he died, rewriting his death as an illusion and plotting in the dark, he would've been a genius if he wasn't so insane,"

"Well, the one issue we have is that Madara was able to kick our asses like nothing, hold back eight Jinchuuriki and Izuku while also holding the ninth Jinchuuriki and absorbing their charka," Sakura looked upwards, "He does seem pretty strong,"

"He is incredibly strong, but Hashirama was just as strong, after all, he defeated Kurama in Susano'o armour with nothing but a Wood Style golem made of his own chakra," Sasuke added, almost in disbelief, "I just wanna know why we were surprised they attacked so soon,"

"I wasn't expecting him," Izuku began gesticulating wildly, "It took me by surprise okay? I figured they wouldn't mount an attack so soon after they stole the Rinnegan, and even then I though, hey, whoever they send can't beat nine Jinchuuriki and me alone righ? I got cocky thinking that ten people could beat him, but Madara lived as a soldier, he knows more about fighting than anyone of us, maybe if Shisui and Itachi worked together they could get him but," The greenette began mumbling, "There's no way I'd let them fight _him_ , I mean, we already lost them once, plus a fact it's about time they got to rest easy," Naruto had to agree, the two older Uchiha had been through too much, they deserved the ability to relax for once. "I, I just wish things like this could _not_ happen, part of why I don't like Second is because he fucked around with life and death, like, if he and First were going to fight Madara, burn the fucking body, then the _Sharingan_ doesn't work and he stays dead, but since you didn't, could you maybe lock the super powerful scroll that tells you how to bring the dead back in a locked vault? Seriously, three of us could break into there when we were like, six! Surely they should've locked it up in a super powerful, nine locks, seals out the wahzoo type of safe? Please?" The greenette was clearly sleep deprived judging by the way he was acting.

"Izuku, bro, how about tonight we forget all this stuff?" Naruto offered gently, "We can make some hot chocolate for you as well," His brother looked at him with a twitch in his eye, "Look, you're clearly not sleeping well, so just, forget about your responsibilities for a night and leave it at that alright?" Izuku sighed,

"Yeah, yeah you're right, I need to sleep, it's just, I, I feel like the world's depending on me, and I don't, I'm not enough, y'know?"

"Izuku Uzumaki," Everyone whipped up to see Kushina stood in the door, "You are not baring the weight of the world on your shoulders by yourself, no way no how," Her gaze softened "Oh sweety," She hugged him gently "Don't worry alright? I promise that things will turn out right so long as you try your hardest, you are more than enough, look at everything you've accomplished so far, you need to remember one loss doesn't take away all the hard work you've put in,"

"I know Ma, I just, can't help it," Naruto felt guilt in his stomach as he watched, Izuku had shouldered so much for them, he'd been a brother to himself and Sasuke, taken care of both boys when an entire village decided not to, grew strong enough to threaten the elders of the village by the time they were about to leave the academy to make sure that no-one hurt Naruto. He'd been the adult out of everyone that slowly joined their family, and now he was trying to say he'd save the world alone to protect them all again. It hurt to see his brother feel the need to take everything on alone. Itachi had warned them about it but Izuku did it anyway to try save them. Kushina pulled away from the greenette slowly and everyone heard a soft snoring. They looked to see.

Izuku had fallen asleep on his feet.

* * *

Naohana Tsukauchi was let into the interview room. Everyone in the station felt so pleased with themselves that they managed to catch the vigilante even after his partner disappeared sometime last year, despite the evidence stating Midorikage _walked_ _into the station_ and sat himself down in the room. An officer had quickly then handcuffed him to the table and left him shut in the room there. Of course they were quickly able to descern he was male. There wasn't exactly a ton of them walking the streets anymore. Sitting opposite the man she furrowed her brows, trying to look at his face directly, but she either ended up looking at his mop of green hair of either side of his head. The traveller's cloak was still around his shoulders and the hood forcibly pulled down.

"Ah, detective, you took your sweet time, I figured you might have hurried since I asked for you personally," His voice was rough yet endearing. She'd stood in the monitoring room the other side of the mirror behind her, observing him look around the room.

"Why are you here?"

"Kill time, none of my ladies are going out tonight, none of them are calling for me yet either so,"

"Ladies?" 

"Well you didn't think I was single did you? So far I have my Young Miss, my Cuddle Bug and my Radio Head," Partners, great, just what she needed, more papaer trails. Alright, gently engaging her quirk she decided to start with a base quesiton.

"What colour is your hair?"

"Red," _Truth_

"What?" His hair was dark green, "Are you,"

"Wearing a wig? No," _Truth _"Detective, does your quirk tell you if someone is telling the truth?" She remained silent, "It's easy to infer when you ask a question so basic and easily proven wrong," Had, had he just _tricked_ her quirk? That was impossible. "Detective, I'm going to be honest, I've trained against every interrogation method you know, you could waterboard me for hours and I won't talk, leave me with the water drip torture and I'll just start making a song, tear out my fingernails and I'll just grow them back," His hands lifted and the handcuffs dropped onto the table, "Truth be told I have no reason for being here, I just wished to see who I was working against, turns out, y'ain't shit compared to what I go against, daily," The hood of his cloak was suddenly up and his face covered in shadow. Several people burst into the room, ready to strike him. "I wouldn't do that, even if I wish not to hurt any of you my reflexes might cause you harm,"

"My quirk doesn't work on him, so take anything he says as truth right now, we need to be careful,"

"Careful? Detective I'm hurt, you really think I'm going to hurt you?" An officer charged him, her baton raised. A hand flew from his cloak and caught the object in moments. Moving in a feat of flexibility he twirled the officer to put their back against his chest, the baton across her own. "I'll only hurt you if you ask me too," Naohana wished she didn't see how the officer shivered in excitement. Midorikage spun the officer away and left her to fall on her ass. "Please, anymore attacks will be met with hostility, do not fight me," Several more aggresive officers readied to challenge him, "Please, I do not wish to fight anyone, there are just some errands I need to run," Naohana watched them ignore him in real time and begin a charge on him. He ducked under the first attack, sticking his foot out in a turn to knock the second officer over. His body tilted slightly to avoid the third baton that was going to strike his chest, catching the wrist of the officer, there was eye contact for a moment before the woman collapsed, "She will be up in five minutes," Naohana watched him deflect the fourth attack, stepping forward to tower over the officer that threw the attack, "If you wanted my number, ask politely next time," She fell to her knees, as he swung his arm wide. Taking the baton from the fifth officer in his free hand he rested the baton of the fourth behind her neck, "Congratulations, when're they due?" The fifth officer calmly moved out of the way. Midorikage made his way over to Naohana and gave her the batons. "Naohana, how's your god-daughter?" Her shock turned to anger,

"Listen here you sick fuck, you,"

"I will not approach her, I'm aiming to stay as far away from her as possible, however her little nightly outings are making it obscenely difficult," No, Izumi wouldn't do that, right? "She and her friend must work on codenames or something, I don't wish for Musutafu to know that an Izumi Midoriya and Katsumi Bakugo are parading the streets at night, blatantly using their quirks to fight the homeless, or rather, just assualt the homeless," Naohana stepped backwards, "I am tired of having to taxi them to first aid shelters and I am sure Recovery Girl doesn't want anymore surprises on her doorstep," He disappeared in a green flash, leaving Naohana with six shocked officers.

"HE COULD'VE ESCAPED THE WHOLE TIME??!" The second officer that attacked him cried. Naohana stared at the air almost trying to pull him back through sheer force of will, she leapt back in shock when he reappeared,

"Almost forgot," He stooped down and picked up the, jesus fucking christ, was that a kunai? Where did he get that? Standing up straight he offered the handle to her, "Just hold this and think of me whenever you are in over your head, I'll come help whenever I can," He disappeared in a flash of green again. Naomasa glared at it, while a few grumbled about her getting the 'rare hot dude hotline' when someone else burst into the room.

"Detective!" They paused at the sight of the room, "We ran the face through the databases, every register, photographer, street camera, everything," They turned the laptop in their hand around to Naohana, who just paled at the response.

 _No matches found_.

* * *

Mina sat on her bed in the quiet of her room. It was New Years and she hadn't seen Kage since before Christmas, holding the kunai and looking out of her window she watched the fireworks go off. "Should you not be partying downstairs?" Mina flung the kunai in shock, flailing and looking up to see it stuck in the ceiling. Kage sighed and walked up the wall until he stood above her, pulling it out and handing it back to her.

"How do you do that?" She hissed to him as he just shrugged, "Right, trade secrets, why are you here?"

"Well, you called me here Radio Head,"

"Radio Head?"

"Well, you listen to me when I talk and your horns make cute antennaes," Kage waved a hand, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm I just, I'm not in the mood to celebrate y'know?" She sat abck down on her bed.

"I understand," Kage stepped over to her and radiated warmth, "My brother had to go away for a while, he's working really hard and I was only able to see him at Christmas, I'm hoping he'll come back soon but it might be a year or two before I see him again,"

"Oh, that, that sucks," Mina sighed, "Did, did you mean it when you said my horns were cute?"

"Of course, with how bubbly you are, you're like my own little radio, telling me stories, playing songs," He sat down next to her. "Do you not like the nickname?"

"No, no, I love it, it's just, no-one's ever really said I look good,"

"Well, they're just jealous, you'll find that the people most often tearing you down are the ones afraid to reach as high as you," Mina felt her eyes watering, "It's all about confidence, those who don't have it, find it by attacking others, and those with it can't show it because it is torn down when they do, nothing will make people stop, so you must give them reason to stop, give them something so incredible they can't stop you from soaring," She turned to face him, her legs over his lap. "If there is something you learn it is that words, they do not have power, they never will, words only have the power you give to the speaker, the less power you give them, the less you find yourself caring abotu their words," She inched closer and closer.

"You, you mean it?"

"Of course I do my Radio Head, my brother and I were subjected to hatred too, but we worked through it became stronger than anyone else, and the stronger we got, the less we listened,"

"How much power do you give me?" She sat on his lap now, an arm over his snaking around his back.

"How much do you want?" The smile he gave audible as Mina felt an arm around her lower back.

"Enough for you to believe me," Her arm lifted to drape around his neck as she sat straight up and faced him.

"i'll believe, that won't be the problem, will you believe me if I say it?" Mina tried to ignore the heartbreak because of course, no matter what happened or how hard she tried to keep him her little secret, it would get out eventually, and he'd be forced to take more wives, if he was able to stay outside the governmental compounds that is. "Mina," She hugged him, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"Of course I would, because no-one ever talks to me like you do, no-one has ever, ever said that I was cute, or built up my confidence in my entire life, anywhere near you have in the last five minutes," His other hand cradled the back of her head. "I, I, it won't be easy, I will be insecure,"

"We have a while until I come back permanently, so you have some time to mentally prepare yourself, but you know," She leant back to sit up, "I will answer whenever you call, no matter what, unless of course, I'm fighting somebody, then I'll be with you as soon as I'm done," She let herself giggle lightly, "What do you say Radio Head? Are you willing to face it all with me?" Her answer was pulling on his neck and kissing him deeply. His hands held her tightly, keeping her body close to his, her hands scrunched up his hair and stopped him from pulling away. Not that he would, since he was clearly trying to keep her as close as possible. When they finally pulled away she looked to where she figured out his eyes would be,

"Good enough answer for you?"

"All that and more, next dumb question?" Her hands didn't move from behidn his neck and his didn't move from her back and thigh. "I think it's time I gave you your Christmas presents,"

"Oh, but, I,"

"I know, it is no trouble, it is just a good time to give you these," His mask lifted to his face and he pulled the cloak from his shoulders, gently draping it around her, "This will keep you cool no matter where you go, in the cold it will keep you warm," The hood was pulled up for a moment, as he reached into his pockets. A small scroll was pulled out and laid on the free part of her bed. "This is your true present," A puff of smoke and suddenly a large coil of wire was present with a small stick and a blade attached to one end. "This is a Kaginawa, it is similar to a grappling hook, except you can use it as a weapon, it is one incredibly difficult to use, it you are going to be jumping like when I found you, this will allowed you to swing instead of splat, please practise using it, I can guarantee there is not a person capable of using it in this world,"

"I, but, Kage I,"

"Go and see Yumiko Musha, tell her that Midorikage sent you, say you are one of the few and she will know, you will be able to train with her there," His hand rubbed her thigh reassuringly,

"But I, I'm not,"

"You are incredibly capable of learning it, I know you can master this craft," His confidence in her felt more motivating than anything she'd ever heard. "In fact, I'm so confident, I'm giving you until you enter university to do it, you are aiming for UA correct?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, who isn't?"

"Exactly, knowledge of this weapon will make you extra appealing, if you prove you are a master of something people barely understand, you are near unbeatable to any opponent, so master it before you take the exams, and make them _want you_ ," Mina hugged him tightly. Once she had given him room to move again his hand stuck out and a cloak shimmered into it, he sealed it around his shoulders and pulled the hood up again. The mask clipped out of place and was stored somewhere again. Mina gazed at his shadow covered face.

"Are you staying again tonight?"

"Like I would leave you so harshly," Kage admonished quietly. "You've locked you door to prevent disturbances right?" She nodded, "Then there is no reason to not stay here with you," He tilted sideways as Mina fell onto her back. The light flickered for a moment and Mina heard leaves rustling before Kage's arm ensnared her. Rolling to put her back against his chest, she curled up in his arms, commiting every detail to memory. Kage held her close as she drifted off. The price of Kage's company wasn't cheap.

It had cost her heart, but it was okay,

Because she kept a piece of his too.


	25. Cutting losses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group faces something they hoped to do for a very long time.
> 
> "We will cut you down here and now, to avenge all those you hurt!"
> 
> "This, isn't possible,"

"Alright, I'm here, what's going on?" Izuku clapped his hands as he sat down at the very busy table for breakfast. Naruto gave him a look before glancing at Tsunade.

"Izuku Uzumaki, you are going to be spending less time on missions from now on," He didn't like using his power as clan head, in fact he never had before, but this needed to be done. "I've already spoken to the Hokage about it and you will not be going on any more solo missions, only those with your team, if a Jinchuuriki calls for assitance you are to grab at least one other team mate before going," The greenette felt an eye twitch, "This is my decision, do you understand?"

"Yes Uzumaki- _sama_ ," Alright the venom was uncalled for, but he could understand his brother was upset.

"Izuku you have been asleep for two days straight," Tsunade's soft approach gave Izuku pause, "You came home after the meeting and fell asleep as Kushina hugged you at the door, on a side note, you need to pull back on the training, your muscle mass is so dense it took the other three boys working together to carry you upstairs,"

"Bogoff," Izuku mumbled "I'm not that heavy,"

"Boy, we nearly called Onoki for a Light-Weight Rock Technique Jutsu," Sasuke joked.

"Just because I got more muscles than you weedy," Izuku joked.

"Puh-lease," Sasuke rolled up his sleeve flexing his arm jokingly, grinning childishly Naruto got off his seat and moved over to flex as well, his bicep was slightly bigger than Sasuke's.

"Ladies," Sakura teased, pulling her own sleeve up and showing her arms were stronger than Naruto's. Sasuke began forming a slight cloud above his head.

"Hi," Katsuki threw in his arm, flexing too, his arm being bigger than Naruto and Sasuke's combined, Sasuke visibly got more agitated and embarrassed.

"Ahem," Izuku leant over and showed off his, Naruto blinked, once, twice.

"I'M OUT!" Sasuke threw his sleeve down and began stomping away as the table tried not to laugh.

"Holy shit dude, it's, where, how is your arm bigger than my head all of a sudden?" The blood has drained from the blond's face.

"Muscles appear smaller than normal when relaxed," The greenette shrugged, "Sakura's arms are smaller than yours when she isn't tensing, Tsunade's aren't that big if she's not flexing either, at first glance you'd think Jiraiya of all people was stronger than her,"

"You trying to say something brat?" Jiraiya grumbled from his seat as he looked down at his breakfast.

"Nothing I haven't said already," The greenette grinned, "I'm not doing missions as often anymore, gotta put that energy somewhere,"

"Get a hobby," Shisui swirled his cereal around the bowl quietly, "I don't get it 'Tachi, how come they get to be so,"

"I know Shisui, I know," The tallest Uchiha comforted the crying eldest. Kakashi and Anko were just sharing a shocked gaze while Shizune sat up, slightly prouder than normal. Tayuya and Temari had left to go comfort a mockingly distraught Sasuke while Ino was busy losing her shit. "Actually, Naruto, Tsunade, if it's alright, there is something Shisui, Sasuke and I wish to discuss today, is that possible?"

"Swing by around noon," Tsunade nodded "We can hopefully get whatever it is done quickly,"

"It won't take long," Itachi confirmed. "Actually it possibly onvolves Kushina as well, if you'd be so willing to join?" The matriach nodded from her end of the table quietly recovering from her giggling fit.

"Yes, yeah, I can be there," She wiped her eye, "Oh my, ho Kami, I needed that," A wistful smile from her and Naruto felt something bubble in his chest. "Now, I know I'm no longer in charge, but you're all,"

"We're all going to get showered and cleaned up before leaving Ma," Izuku grinned, Naruto smirked, clearly not much had happened in his hiatus from Konoha, if anything he was the one considering getting a chair for Yamato to join the fold. The redhead raised an eyebrow,

"I was going to say you're all going to be helping me with the house today, but now you can clean up from breakfast and then I think I'll leave chores to you," The greenette shrugged "And no Shadow Clones," Izuku froze, Naruto began to laugh at the boy's suddenly pale complexion. "Katsuki,"

"Yeah Ma?"

"You are going to be coming shopping with me, since you decided we needed more chilli spices for our food last time I sent you alone,"

"Hai," He grumbled about 'weaklings afraid of spice' and 'just cowards' Naruto quickly shovelled food into his mouth to stop himself from laughing. 

"Naruto, I don't know why you're trying to not laugh, you're the head of the clan, they just listen to me because I'm their mom," Kushina shrugged from her chair, "What can I do to you except ground you? Even then as head you can override it, as much as it hurts to admit, now I'm an elder of the Uzumaki clan, I'll be included in clan affairs but the decision still falls to you, which reminds me, since you were offically stated as head, we haven't decided if I should return to active duty or not,"

"What? Oh, yeah, no, you can, I'm not going to stop you, if I can't keep Shisui and Itachi from risking their lives I can't stop you," He shook his head, "I lost all of you once and sure, I'm scared to lose you again but I can't keep you all here if you don't want to be here," Izuku began collecting empty bowls from the table as people slowly got up and left for their respective days. "Ah, Kakashi, before you leave," The silver haired jounin stopped and turned around to face his former student. "I, this is going to be a weird question so just bear with me," He nodded "Alright so, you, y'know how you and my old man were close and all? Well I was thinking, since you don't, oh Kami this sounds so wrong, but, since you don't have a family home and you're here every breakfast and dinner anyway, I was, well, I was wondering if you'd like to be part of the Uzumaki clan?"

"Naruto, there are other,"

"Kakashi, I want you to be part of our clan, part of _my_ family, you're like the cousin I never had," A metaphysical arrow seemed to pierce the stoic ninja's heart, "And I know, I get it'll be a lot of paperwork and all, and I'll have a Shadow Clone deal with everything, but, well, I, I just wanted to offer and let you know that you'll always have a seat at the table no matter what," Kakashi denies to his grave he teared up, "Because you're like family Kakashi, and I wanna make you actually family, since y'know, I have that power now,"

"I," Kakashi paused for several moments, "Y'know I'd really like that Naruto," He gasped in excitement and beamed a smile of a thousand suns.

"So does that,"

"I'll meet you at noon in Tsunade's office, get everything done in one fell swoop,"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Naruto held his thumb out.

The office was crowded as the sun reached its apex. Shisui, Itachi and Sasuke stood in one group, Kushina stood behind Naruto, hands on his shoulders, with Kakashi off the the side by his lonesome. Izuku was there too for some reason, between Tsunade and the Uchiha. Shizune was stood behind Tsunade, fidgeting slightly as she eyed Itachi's stoic face. Tsunade leant on her desk, "Alright, you're the smallest party so Kakashi, what's your issue?"

"Not so much an issue as an acceptance of an offer," He rubbed the back of his head nervously, Tsunade sighed and opened a drawer, Naruto made a Shadow Clone to grab the papers she revealed.

"Brat, you're doing the paperwork, it's a good thing Sarutobi told me to keep a spare stack of these before I took office, since he's an offical ninja already it will be a different process," She rubbed her temples "Alright, growing small militia aside, what's your situation?" The Uchiha sucked on their teeth, Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?" They all nodded, "And you've,"

"Lady Hokage," Sasuke opened, he only did that when he wanted to be in her good books, what was going on here? "I became head of the clan when Itachi and Shisui supposedly died a decade ago, this decision was something the two of them suggested well over a year ago and one we've spent time debating and decided unanimously," Naruto was really confused now, "It's quite possibly the only thing the three of us can agree on," Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead,

"You are aware that it is an entirely different process to what normally happens correct? You are talking about a clan,"

"We know Lady Hokage, Shizune has helped us understand the process and the paperwork," Itachi nodded as Shizune grinned shyly to Tsunade.

"Very well, is there any reason you have decided this?"

"Well," Shisui began, "You are the last Senju, so the clan will die with you, we feel that the same must happen for the Uchiha,"

"Your lineage will cease to exist,"

"Our lineage is one that we can't be proud of," Sasuke spoke levelly, "The wars the Uchiha decided to fight in were petty and had great fallout, we don't want to be a part of that legacy," Itachi and Shisui nodded in agreement.

"If you understand the full effects and still wish for it to happen I see no reason for it to not, alright boys, by the end fo the week the Uchiha will be no more," Naruto's eyed bulged,

"Wait, woah, what?!" He snapped his head back and forth, "Can someone please catch me up?"

"Naruto, you remember what you said when I first had Hiruzen make me an Uzumaki?" Furrowing his brows, he tried to got back to that night so long ago.

_He'd just woken up from meeting Kurama for the first time, Izuku and Sasuke had beat up the ANBU that had attacked them. Sasuke asked if Izuku had anything more to say as he hauled Naruto to his feet. The greenette puffed out his chest and walking over to Gramp Third's desk. A piece of paper was pulled out from his pocket and put onto the desk, "I wish to become an Uzumaki," The blond had frozen in shock, the mere idea of having family completely alien,"I want to be part of the Uzumaki clan, because my old family wants nothing to do with me and I don't want anything to do with them, I wish to lose the Midoriya name and become Uzumaki Izuku," Kurama had murmured something about the two no longer being alone as Naruto felt his stomach tense and relax before he'd rounded on Sasuke, "Hey, maybe one day,"_

"You can join out clan too," His eyes widened again, "Wait, you mean?" Itachi nodded as Shisui grinned widely.

"By the end of the week we will be Uzumakis,"

"So how many sons will I?" Itachi chuckled as Kushina raised an eyebrow,

"Shisui is not a brother, he is a cousin, it'll be more akin to him being a branch member instead of the main family,"

"Wait, hold on," Kushina held up a hand, "I'll have, Naruto, Sasuke, Kastuki, Izuku and Itachi? Kakashi and Shuisui will be cousins to them? We've also got Tayuya and Temari with Sasuke, Ino and Sakura with Naruto, Shizune with Itachi, Anko with Kakashi," 

"Heh, the clan's gotten pretty big again huh?" Naruto summed up neatly, his face heating up from his mother's implications about his girlfriends,

"Telling me, I was a single member, turned mother of one and now I have five sons and," She began counting on her fingers, "Six daughters in law!"

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me I'm lonely and single," Shisui folded his arms, pouting to the side. Nobody liked the look of plotting that overcame Izuku's face. Shisui of course, didn't notice. An ANBU landed at the open window.

"Lady Hokage, forgive the intrusion but there is urgent news," Tsunade nodded to them as Izuku changed his attention, Naruto matched his tensing and Sasuke slowly crept over to Izuku. "Our network has spotted ROOT movement near Samurai Bridge!" The blond didn't even wait as he heard,

"Squad Seven, mobilize!" Twin green and yellow flashes and the three boys were gone. Kushina twitched her eyebrow.

"How long have they been ANBU?" Tsunade just gulped.

They found him at the bridge alone. His arm was out of the container and bandages while the bandages around his head had been removed. The team took in the warped sight. Danzo's right arm was grey a face forming on the shoulder and ten _Sharingan_ implanted in the lower half and hand. That meant he had eleven along with the one implanted in his eye. Sasuke was first to speak. "You sick bastard," He growled out lowly.

"Ah, the brat brigade, come to yell about revenge and fail to strike m-," A single kunai grazed the side of his face, drawing blood immediately.

"Oh no Danzo, you see, this isn't a childish fantasy," Izuku moved his arm back to his body, "The five of us are going to kill you, as a team," Danzo sneered at them,

"You think you have a chance to beat me child?!"

"Squad Seven round off!" 

"Raven,"

"Fox,"

"Petal,"

"Embers, all present Captain!"

"Midori make five," Sasuke drew his sword as Sakura's trench knives extended with chakra blades. Naruto had a kunai around each finger as Katsuki pulled out his bo-staff. Izuku didn't draw any weapons yet, his fingers snapped and like a well oiled machine the team fell into formation, Sakura and Naruto were knelt in front of Izuku, ready to push of, on his sides Sasuke spun his sword and readied it in a reverse grip, Katsuki twirled his staff before leaving it straight against his back moving under his arm to his palm. "Today we fight you Danzo Shimura," He heard Izuku draw a sword before was pointed at Danzo form the corner of his vision, "We will cut you down hrere and now, to avenge those you hurt! To claim the _Sharingan_ you stole and prevent them from ever being used to harm another again!" The sword was lifted "Squad Seven, out mission is to terminate Danzo Shimura, ready?"

"Ready!" Came a chorsued reply,

"Mobilize!" The five broke apart, Sakura led with her trench knives, swiping at Danzo, who leant and pushed himself backwards. "Danzo Shimura has Lord First's cells implanted into his body, combined with the _Sharingan_ his Izanagi will work for roughly a minute per eye, eliminate him before he is able to blind all of them!" Eleven minutes, that's more than enough openings for the group to land a killing blow. Following her into Danzo's guard, he slashed the man's jugular. Blood arced out and Naruto saw the figure fade from the corner of his vision as a foot lifted into his gut. As he launched towards the edge a cord wrapped around his ankle, pulling him onto solid ground. Izuku pulled the roped back to his hand. Once he caught it he spun a bit around his wrist and dropped an item from his other hand. it was a small wooden block with two blades coming from the top end. One was a straight blade about a five inches long while the other curved around from the base, appearing to be a hook. Picking up a piece of the rope running from his, the greenette began spinning it at high speeds. There was a lot of slack on the rope between his hands as he kept twirling the rope. It was catapulted towards Danzo and wrapped around his arm. Izuku yanked it backwards and Katsuki charged forward with a Rasengan. "Fox, Embers and I need to go," That wasn't a good sign, "You're in charge,"

"Understood Captain!" Naruto barked back, "Get moving!" Katsuki and Izuku disappeared in a flash of green. "Squad Seven, regroup," The three united at a point opposing Danzo. "Alright let's go with Sannin Styles," The great part about having Izuku as captain of the team, was that he had them all train to fight as individuals and units, Katsuki, Sasuke and Naruto for example, trained together to fight when Izuku and Sakura were busy. Each group had their own name, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto were the New Sannin, since they'd studied under a Sannin each. The 'Sannin Styles' were based off how the original three fought, Sasuke taking point, Naruto tanking hits and Sakura dishing out the power. Speaking of the ravenette, he dashed forwards with incredible speed, his kenjutsu showing as he pressured Danzo who was fighting with a kunai. "Fox, Round Robin method three!" Nodding the blond and Sasuke swapped places, he avoided Danzo's strike, lifting his knee to hit his wrist. Naruto's arm snapped down at the same time to deal a blow to a pressure point, forcing Danzo's hand to open and drop the kunai. He quickly ducked under a punch and caught it, driving it into a _Sharingan_. 

"Brat!" Danzo growled as blood spilt from the wound. Sasuke was in his place in seconds. He and Sakura began moving around the brawl, ready for the opening.

"How many Raijin's does he have left?" Sakura asked as they circled.

"I don't know, his reserves have increased a lot and this is the Raijin heavy method that only Izuku and Katsuki have used with me, it takes a lot of swaps," Naruto took Sasuke's place again as he took the opening the ravenette gave, dealing consecutive blows to his gut and chest. A single kunai was taken from the pouch in his flurry, spinning in the air as he jumped back and grabbed Sakura, "Petal, give it all you've got," They were in front of Danzo again and Sakura pulled her fist back, using his superior speed Naruto threw the kunai as far as he could behind Danzo. He was back with Sasuke as Sakura dealt the blow, "Go for his shoulder," Sasuke nodded and they were at the kunai, watching Danzo fly back towards them. Sasuke drew his blade as Naruto ran through signs. The moment the arm was severed Naruto spewed flames from his mouth. The wound was cauterized immediately and the arm turned into ashes. The body flew past them and rolled along the floor. They stood above him as he tried to get up with his lone arm. Sasuke's sword was pointed at his chest, Sakura's extended trench knife at his throat and Naruto's kunai hovered over his remaining implanted _Sharingan_. "Danzo Shimura, you are now under arrest for betraying your village, going against the Hokage and various other crimes resulting in the deaths of many," His tone was clipped and short. "Do not resist," The blond's foot connected with the man's temple and the body crumpled. Naruto stared at it, visibly shaking with how much rage this man wrought from him. Sasuke wasn't faring much better, white knuckling on the hilt of his sword. Sakura was the one to break the tension.

"Let's get him back to Lady Hokage, she'll take great pleasure dealing with him," Lifting the body onto her shoulders, he could feel her sympathetic gaze, "I hate the bastard too, so let's just get this done quickly,"

They arrived to a mess. Tsunade quietly watching as Izuku seemed feral with rage. Books were strewn around the room and the chairs knocked over. Katsuki and Shizune were nowhere in sight. "Ah, you got him, Petal take him to T and I for now, Raven, you can stay if you wish otherwise you're dismissed, Fox, you, you're going to want to hear this," They watched Izuku punch a pillow over and over. "Madara went after the other Jinchuuriki," Ah, that's why the duo had disappeared, "He went after each consecutively with a Wood Clone," Fuck, "Izuku and Katsuki moved to each just after they had beaten the last, they must've covered the entire Five Nations, luckily we had no casualties," There was a but coming, "But," There it is, "Madara got chakra from each beast, Katsuki was able to get them to safety after Izuku interrupted the process and then destroy the clone, but not before the chakra was absorbed by it," Sasuke sat on the window ledge, "They lost, eight conescutive battles, Katsuki's upset naturally but as you can see, Izuku's taking it really badly," The greenette threw a pillow with almost inhumane power. It seemed to be the last of his rage as he took several deep breaths before he began cleaning up.

"Apologies Tsunade," He mumbled while putting books back, "I should not have let such emotions out, it was, uncharacteristic of me,"

"It is alright to get mad after a defeat Izuku," She reassured him "You are allowed to get frsutrated, but at least no-one died,"

"Yet, he got eight out of nine, that's problematic to say the least, all he needs now is Naruto, which I'm pretty sure Danzo was meant to do,"

"We stopped him," The greenette froze, "Destroyed one _Sharingan_ , he used Izanagi with a second and then we were able to sperarate the rest from his body and burn them before a jutsu could activate," His posture straightened. "There's only one _Sharingan_ left and that was in his face, we removed it en route here," There was a great, heavy sigh, "We made sure the rest were cinders though, now there's only nine _Sharingan_ left,"

"Thirteen," Izuku turned around,

"What?"

"There's thirteen left, Kakashi's, Obito's and Madara's pair," Izuku counted on his fingers, "We have enough to give each Jinchuuriki a _Sharingan_ and then a pair for Sasuke and Katsuki," He could feel Sasuke lift an eyebrow, "Not that we're giving them the Dojutsu, obviously, just listing, we're at a five to one if it comes down to a battle of dojutsu, it's better than the odds before hand," He grumbled, before continuing to organzie the room again, "I came so close in the ninth battle, I know his moves now, I've fought him ten times,"

"So what was the issue?"

"The issue was that even though I killed him without drawing out my full power, was that I was still too slow, I didn't, I wasn't fast enough to stop him absorbing Fu's chakra,"

"Is she okay?"

"He hit her last and managed to get the most chakra as a result, right now she's in our house, Ino is treating her for wounds and chakra exhaustion, Shisui's been as helpful as he can,"

"Might finally get a girlfriend," Tsunade joked, Sasuke shrugged,

"Don't know how,"

"She's twenty-one," Izuku cut in, "The Akatsuki had records on most jinchuuriki to hunt them down, obviously Naruto wasn't one of them until Pain but," A pause, "They didn't guard them all that heavily,"

"You, how, you broke into Akatsuki headquarters and didn't kick their asses?"

"Well, I would've had anyone been there, with the fact we had dismantled their so called surprise attack, resulting in not only a death but also Konoha chasing them, they had all hands looking for the Jinchuuriki, I was barely able to catch up to them after I collected the records," Tsunade opened her mouth, "I destroyed them already,"

"Good, now, the three of you should come with me, we have a traitor to oust,"

Naruto didn't feel at ease gazing over the village, they had collected en masse to watch Danzo be tried and judged for crimes they didn't know he did. Tsunade undid a scroll, "Danzo Shimura, you are charged with using a cursed seal on shinobi, forcing them to flee the village, how do you plead?"

"Not gu-aahh!" The seal forced onto his chest blared as it detected his lie. The public let out a collective gasp,

"You are charged with using a cursed seal and forcing Orochimaru to expirement on shinobi unwillingly, how do you plead?"

"Not gaaa!" Another gasp.

"You are charged with forcing Itachi Uchiha to massacre his clan and flee the village as a rogue against the wishes of Lord Third, how do you plead?" The seal activated before he could even open his mouth, mutterings began. "You are charged with causing the Nine Tails to be unleashed from Kushina Uzumaki's seal and controlling it on a rampage through the city, causing the deaths of both Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and his wife Kushina Uzumaki, how do you plead?"

"Not, guilt-AAAH!" He tried rushing out the words before the seal could stop him but it didn't work as he contorted in pain. The crowd began booing and yelling at him.

"Danzo Shimura, you are charged with causing and arming the civil war in Kirigakure, how do you plead?" Danzo kept his lips sealed but the blaring rang out anyway. "Mizukage?" Mei stepped from a shadow,

"That is enough evidence for me to trust you Hokage," She nodded as Tsunade continued,

"You are charged with ordering the attempted assassination of Lord Third Hokage, how do you plead?"

"NOt, aaaahhh!" If the crowd could get angrier, it did.

"You are charged with kidnapped infants from their cribs and expirementing on them, resulting in deaths untold, you are charged with using a cursed seal to force ninja to obey you without question, you are charged with attempting to kidnap Uzumaki Izuku, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke while they were still children, how do you plead?"

"I would not have had to resort to that if Hiruzen had given them to me like I said he sho-!"

**Smack**

Tsunade retracted her hand and repeated, "How do you plead?"

"Guilty," The seal didn't activate. The crowd was in genuine shock now, but Naruto didn't feel vindicated, this wasn't what he wanted. The rage Danzo caused him was just that, rage, the things he did were beyond forgiveness. And yet Naruto didn't feel the joy he thought he would at the sight of Danzo being tried as Tsunade kept listing out his crimes.

"It's because revenge isn't something you focused on," Izuku leant over to him, "You forgot about getting revenge on him, you focused more on the good in life, family, friends, smiling and protecting that, Danzo has been a second to everything for all three of us," His brother smiled softly, "Trust me, you might not feel joyful or vindicated but by the time we go to bed, you'll have a weight off your shoulders," Smiling, the blond looked back over the crowd as they were all stunned into silence. People kept flicking their attention towards him with true guilt and regret, Teuchi and Ayame looked directly at him, the pride and joy clear on their faces. He waved discreetly to them as Teuchi lifted a thumb and Ayame nodded with a wide grin. Danzo cried out as his body contorted again in pain.

"As Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure I pronounce you guilty of all charges and sentence you to execution," Danzo growled and shouted,

"If I go, I shall take Konoha with me," His shirt was torn open, "Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Jut-" His throat was slashed by ANBU too late as the seals moved from his chest.

"Naruto, Katsuki!" Izuku called out as they disappeared in flashes, moving off Tsunade the group danced around the area, taking handfuls and groups of people out of range. The four seals took to the air as they kept bouncing between spaces. Naruto was back to his kunai as Katsuki appeared next to him in a flash, the seals suddenly became an orb.

"TSUNADE!!" Naruto screamed at the growing orb. Izuku put his hand out and the blonde was suddenly at his hand. "The, the,"

"Raijin was more than just sending things there remember?" The Hokage whirled around to him. "I mark everyone important to me, just in case," Him talking wasn't strange, but the silence that followed was, they all looked towards where Danzo had been. There in the centre of the Hokage tower, from the roof travelling almost to the ground, was nothing. The walls, furniture and items had all been sealed into the body as it laid in what remained of the building's front. The man fell to his knees, blood falling from the gash in his throat.

"This, isn't possible," The body fell further, "I was, supposed, to be, Ho-ka-ge," The fear died down as people say the corpse laying still, Tsunade addressed the village from where she stood.

"Danzo Shimura is dead in a suicide attack trying to take the life of myself and many ninja in the building, boys?"

"None dead, several in shock but he didn't get anyone," Katsuki saluted puffing his chest, she just nodded and waved a hand,

"As you heard, Danzo Shimura once again tried to hurt our village and yet he failed to take even one person with him thanks to these three boys! Naruto, Izuku and Katsuki Uzumaki, now the trial of Danzo Shimura is over!" The crowd burst into cheers as the three just stepped backwards out of the way. Kushina was on the roof immediately.

"Boys!" She charged over, taking all of them in a hug, "Don't you ever, ever leave it so late again! I was so worried you were going to get caught in that!"

"Y-you mean you aren't mad?" Izuku ventured,

"Mad? Why would I be," She smiled sweetly, "No, Izuku, I'm not mad at you, you're shinobi, danger is part of the job description, but I was worried since you guys cut it so close to the wire, you could've run through and put a hand to teleport everyone out instantly,"

"We, we didn't actually think of that," Katsuki mumbled into her shoulder.

"Well, I'm not mad, you just scared me,"

"Sorry Ma," They mumbled in sync, looking down as she stepped away from the trio.

"That's enough of that you two, you aren't in trouble," She gently admonished, "No need to act like I'm going to lay a hand on you, even if those who-horrible parents did," Naruto raised an eyebrow as his mom caught herself mid word, eyes widening in panic as she corrected herself, "You, young man," He gulped, "You are almost too much like your father, a magnet for trouble and adrenaline junkie to the letter," A gentle chuckle "But that is to be expected I suppose, c'mon we should get home for dinner,"

"Yes Ma'am!" All three cried eagerly. A Shadow Clone puffed into existence next to her, "Wait you know that?" Naruto muttered,

"I married your father, of course I knew how to be in two places at once," A laugh in stereo as she took his hand, the clone taking Izuku and Katsuki by the hand, leadning them gently down the stairs. It wasn't much to the world, or onlookers in general, but to those three?

It _was_ the world.

* * *

"Young Miss," He landed on the railing of her balcony, "You called me?" Momo smiled warmly, reaching into his cloak and pulling his jacket to quickly peck his cheek.

"I should've known you'd come running," Leading him gently into her room she sat on her bed, Kage looked around briefly. It was the first time she'd called him anywhere enar her room. "I missed you last Christmas,"

"And you continuously called me this year practising the ability to do it perfectly," He nodded wisely "But I have something to make it up to you this year," His hand came from his cloak, holding a single piece of paper. It laid on her bed and poofed into a metal bowstaff. "It is a custom weapon, when I ordered it they told me it would take months to create," He picked it up in his free hand, twirling it between his fingers, "I suggest you learn how to wield it before your eighteenth birthday," Her eighteenth? That was next year, "You are aiming for UA correct?"

"Of course, anyone who's anyone is,"

"Then learn the weapon, regardless of the exam you take, the knowledge and ability to use it will make you more noticeable, especially in a crowd of recommended fighters,"

"But I, if I suddenly ask my parents,"

"Then do not ask them, go to Yumiko Musha, tell her Midorikage sent you and you are one of the few, she will know what to do from there, by learning it before you turn eighteen, your skill in it will only grow before the exams, for now I urge you to familiarize yourself with it," Twisting it slightly revealed a small hole under his palm, "This is a cannister, fill it with whatever glass you wish," It twisted again, "Lock it into place and then," His palm smacked the end of the staff, a small dart fired out the other end at high speed, thudding into her wall as several holes opened. "Once it had landed the gas will emit, perfect for a stealth takedown,"

"How will I fill it with gas?" Momo picked up the small dart and handed it back to him. "I can't make organic,"

"Gasses aren't organic Young Miss, if you can make water, you can make water vapour correct?"

"I, I never tried it before,"

"That is okay, you have time to learn," He nodded patiently, "If you twist the middle of the staff," He did so and it broke into two pieces, small arms snapped up and he wielded them as tonfas, "To reattach them, press the arms until it clicks and twist the pieces back together," A quick demonstration before Kage continued, "I'm guessing you have yet to try and make lightning?"

"I could never, lightning it just," There was a bird like screech as lightning formed around Kage's hand,

"This is a Chidori, it is the first I have demonstrated a jutsu without it being a knockout blow to the viewer," It died in his hands "If I can create it with my trade secrets, I am sure a physics mind like yours can make it logically," She looked at her hand and back again, "I believe you can do it, how do you make a working light if not with electricity?"

"I don't make it work before it is done though,"

"Then you must work on your confidence and definitions, a charge is no more organic than it is man made, it is simply a demonstration of energy,"

"But I can't make energy, I can, only make," Momo paused looking at Kage, "Matter and Energy are linked, I can only repurpose the matter in my body," He nodded again, gazing at her arm she imagined a single bolt passing down to her hand. A gentle flash before her hand stung lightly. "Ow," She hissed, shaking her hand. Kages quickly held it and glowed a soft green, immediately her hand felt better and there was no sign of the electric burn, "I did it, oh my god I, I did it! Kage I,"

"I saw Young Miss, it was impressive, but now you must work on it, make it stronger, bring up your own resistance to it, then you can utilize it in your weapon," Picking up the staf again she marvelled as it crackled with energy, originating from his hand. "Further if you take the cap off the end in ronfa form," Breaking it apart again he put the dart launcher half down and unscrewed the cap of the end in his hands. Once it had pulled free parts of the staff were quickly moved into place. The arm of the tonfa had gained a trigger a finger's width in front of it. The longer sides snapped apart before they became arms with a thin string attaching them. "For further reach with a dart or a trick arrow,"

"Trick arrow?" Kage sighed and unrolled another piece of paper,

"Part two of your gift, since killing in your world is not as normal as it is in mine, this will fire arrows designed to debilitate, distract or discombobulate, you can fire a blunt arrow that will knock someone out, a smoke filled cannister that will release upon stopping and create a smokescreen for you, or a flashbang arrow that will unleash a lond noise and harsh light, I could not get you more than five of each, so you will have to create more of them yourself," They were rested gently into a quiver. It laid on a large piece of fabric, "This will loop around your waist and over your shoulder," Kage lifted it up, "Your staff will be attached magnetically," He quickly restored the staff to it's original form and clipped it onto the holder. "It will not slip or fall from your back, learn to fight with it,"

"Kage I,"

"As I said, find Yumiko Musha, tell her you are one of the few and show her your weapon, she will understand from there," His smile gave her confidence, "I believe you can do it, I know you can master this weapon in time, even if only the staff form,"

"Is it not yours?"

"I don't need such a weapon, I can launch projectiles faster than it with more accuracy than most," Her eyebrow raised in disbelief. "A display then, give me a target," From her shoulder she launched a small disc. His hands moved almost imperceptably, the disc shattered as a kunai thudded into the wall. Momo looked between it and the calm form Kage held. "Believe me yet?" She caught the staff, it was oddly lightweight in her hands, "This is your Christmas gift," She clutched it gently and moved to a door. "A hiding spot?"

"A walk in wardrobe, there is little to no chance of any finding it in here," She spoke from the room, stowing it away cleverly. Turning around she found Kage leaning against the doorframe.

"I may have to go soon, things at home aren't looking good,"

"Does that mean you won't visit?"

"If the worst happens, I will need to go home, my full power may be needed there, it should only take a few days if I am needed at home," Nodding in understanding Momo grabbed a set of pyjamas and began changing. A rustling and she looked over to see Kage turned around, facing her window again. "If I started undressing would you not look away?" She gazed at him, 'No, I would enjoy the show' biting her lip she flushed,

"I guess so," He made a sound of choked laughter as she continued getting changed. Once she had finished she tapped his shoulder, "Does this mean you are staying the night?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes," A copy of Kage appeared and disappeared,

"Then before you go to sleep there is something I wish for you to see," His hand came from his cloak, dragging her slowly onto her balcony. "The way I come to you generates a strong flash of light, the colour depends on what colour I am wearing most prominently, so I made a little something," A green blip in the distance on a rooftop, followed by a red one nearby, then a second green, and red, and green again. Until red and green consistantly appeared over the rooftops, illuminating the city below. Different patterns popped out before it became a simple green to red switch. A pair of hands slowly encircled her waist. "Merry Christmas," He whispered into her ear, making her shiver. Leaning against him she let his warmth encompass her as the lights flickered through the night.

* * *

"Three against one? I would hardly call those fair odds," Enri paused and looked around in alarm, clearly whoever was there was surprised too as Kage's voice quickly followed with, "Oh? were you unaware of each other?" He stood at the edge of a building, looking out over the city.

"Alright, whatever little trick you're trying to pull Kage," Wait, was that, was that Erazerhead? The heroine stepped out of the darkness into Enri's field of vision, "I want to know why you dropped an infant at my doorstep,"

"You read the note, that should explain it all, you wouldn't have kept her if you didn't believe me,"

"Y-you've been watching me?"

"Eri may have seen a little flicker of green from her window, a note telling her I was going to visit her when she grew up big and strong," He looked over his shoulder "You said she kept asking where I was Christmas before last, figured a visit after a few months would be alright," Erazerhead only seemed to take offense.

"So you're calling me incompetent?"

"The only thing I am calling you Shouka Aizawa, if fucking deaf," Kage turned around with such conemtpt the even Enri stepped away. "If you wish to talk shit, how about the fact you have been stalking a seventeen year old boy every night for the past year?"

"YOU'RE SEVENTEEN?!" A familiar voice screeched,

"Yes Usagiyama, I am seventeen, have an issue with it?" Usagiyama? Enri knew that name from somewhere. "Anyway, Shouka, you wann chat shit?" His hands clapped together dramatically, "Let's talk shit," The venom in his gaze alone made her look over her shoulder. "You told me, she kept asking where the green man was correct? Well I'm willing to bet you didn't fucking tell her he had to go home like I said to, so I stepped in, doing your job for you, yet again," The sass on this boy, "And explained to the little one that she was in your care while I had to deal with some very bad men from my home that were interfering here and making it harder to fight the baddies,"

"Now listen here you," **Whoosh**

"I'm a male vigilante in a female dominated society, you think I give a damn about turning you into a corpse?" His voice was incredibly low, "You might take inspiration from ninja, but I _am one_ , where I'm from, you are less than an academy student, understand that?" It was only then Enri saw the gleam of a small blade in the moonlight. "It would take less than a moment for me to kill you, on your very best day, ask Miruko, after all, I damn near shattered her leg after catching her strongest attack," Enri watched a white streak go for him,

"Luna Arc," Miruko! She was Rumi Usagiyama! One of her agencies best sidekicks, slated to go pro the moment she left UA. She'd met Kage before? She _lost_ to Kage before?! She watched with fascination as Kage raised his free arm and stopped the woman's kick dead in its tracks.

"Did you not learn last time?" Pushing her ankle up, he forced her into a vertical split while still holding the blade to Erazerhead's throat. "Endeavor, you can come out now," 

Oh shit.

The flaming hero calmly revealed herself in the moonlight, her distinct flames off because duh, how else was she going to be stealthy? "As I said, three on one, hardly fair odds," Kage's grin was audible from his shadowed voice, "Next time, bring more,"

"There won't be a next time," Enri spoke as levelly as she could, "Miruko will not be attacking you again unless she wishes to face dire consequences," Miruko paled slightly, wobbling on her one foot. "You have made it clear you are not an enemy, even though our only meeting was over a year ago, through my occasional observation you are yet to prove a threat to the city or wider public, with your skillset attacking you serves no purpose," Her hands lifted placatingly, "if it helps I was not here to fight you, I was here simply to observe and maybe discuss your further operations,"

"An organization from my home has found its way to yours, I am dismantling it before it can become a threat, you will find no trace of them anywhere, at least that is what I hope to accomplish,"

"And who can corroborate this story?"

"Currently? No-one," He paused "Although, there are a few people I would ask you to speak to privately, the list will find you when I get the time to write it," Erazerhead stepped away from his blade and tried to attack. Without releasing his hold on Miruko's ankle he deflected the attacks before lifting his own leg and letting the grey capture scarf wrap around it.

"Got y-urk!" She scratched at her neck as he stomped his foot, forcing the woman down as it tightened around her throat.

"Part of being a ninja is knowing when to shut up," Enri swears to her deathbed she heared Miruko mutter something directly to Kage as her face flushed scarlet. "Now, anymore stupid decisions tonight? Endeavor not included because she's been the only civilized one here," She smirked at the respect from the boy. "If there is nothing more to discuss I shall be leaving, Endeavor, I owe you something," Letting for of Miruko and unwrapping his leg he walked over to her and handed her something, sweet _Christ_ did he just hand her a knife?! "That, is a kunai, try and give it your quirk when you need my aid and I shall be there to help, if I am able to," He began walking towards the edge, "Now all three of you have a way to contact me directly if you ever need me, if you wish to talk, please use that instead of following me for several weeks," His foot began hovering over the air, "Rumi will tell you I don't appreciate being followed," The body dropped and they all rushed to the edge to see nothing, just leaves sailing away in the wind.

"So, how does Kage know your identities?" Enri folded her arms at the pair, Miruko having the self awareness to look away. She sighed, this was turning into a long night.

* * *

"What is it Doctor?" A voice growled. The body was currently laying on a hospital bed surrounded by life support equipment as their body slowly healed. "If _he_ has,"

"I am afraid ma'am, that we have recieved word _he_ is dead, captured by the forces hunting him and then went out with a suicide attack earlier today," The Doctor spoke evenly as to hide her fear. The bed bound body hummed. She peered at a monitor that displayed the contents of a warehouse, tubes containing growing bodies lined up and across the floor. _He_ had promised her test subjects, not only that but more power than ever before. Power she could've used to make sure that blonde thorn in her side was dead instead of just greatly injured. Moreso than that, he had offered a way to heal her of her unsightly scarring and injuries. Permanently

"Ah well, it is just a minor setback, we did not need him anyway," A non-chalant wave of her hand. "He was only insurance to ensure victory, we shall still win our war without him," The head turned to a mirror, "Besides, these eyes are advantage enough," A pair of crimson eyes stared back, gleaming with vile intent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, that's not good.  
> What do you guys think so far? All we have left is the Fourth Great Ninja war.  
> What do you think will happen first?  
> What do you think Kage should do next? Should he meet someone new or keep it to the six?  
> All thoughts and comments are appreciated, I love seeing it when you guys and your ideas.  
> And before I forget, if you wanna make a spinoff/fic based off this, be my guests, I'm just putting my thoughts out there, you like 'em use 'em, just lemme know so I can read them too!!  
> Safe Holidays  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	26. Uniting of nations.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ninja band together.
> 
> "We are no longer enemies, we have not been for years!"
> 
> "Is this all you got tin boy?"
> 
> "Have you learned nothing?"  
> "Oh, I've learned plenty,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a rewrite. One of my first actually. A user confirmed my suspicions that the initial attempt was rushed. And it was, I was trying to get another chapter out as soon as possible because I wanted to get as much done before New Year as possible.  
> That's not fair, to you guys or me if I'm honest.  
> So to my eager readers that managed to catch the first version of this, thank you for your support, to those who have only read this version, thank you for your support.  
> To the user that commented on the first version, thank you for reminding me to give myself a break and be good to myself  
> To everyone who read this chapter, I hope it holds up the quality of the last ones.  
> 

Naruto woke up with his mind feeling significantly lighter. Izuku had been right, they had focused so much on protecting what was important that they didn't put everything into revenge. He had walked home with his mom, smiling all the while, not feeling hollow or empty because he'd finally killed Danzo. No, he'd felt at peace, overwhelming calm. Just something he'd been meaning to do finally done. Clearly it translated for the rest of the family too. Kakashi seemed to relax after the buzz of Danzo's final attack, itachi and Shisui secretly had a small celebration too. Kushina had begun singing while going about the house. Even Grampa Hiruzen had been in high spirits, mourning his friend but grateful the monster that had replaced it was finally gone. In the week following, Mei had left to return to Kirigakure and the five Kage had decided on where the meeting point was. Naruto sighed silently. The gathering point, the place that would be the birth place of the Allied Ninja Forces. Led by Tsunade with Raikage as second, Mei would lead the intelligence division while Rasa was acting General for the five front line divisions. Naruto would be part of what was called the Midori Division. Izuku would lead and essentially they were the ace in the hole. Able to be at any battle field, at any point, with nine Jinchuuriki, the Next Sannin, three Uchiha's and two Primal Users. They had four _Sharingans,_ eleven chakra cloaks, four Susano'o that could mesh with any of the nine beasts and at least two of every chakra nature. Suffice to say the group was the definition overpowered. So overpowered in fact, Izuku decided all sixteen of them weren't needed in the same place at once, instead teaching them all Raijin to get to any division that needed them. He'd gone in the evening after Danzo's death to grab the other eight. Teaching them the basics of Raijin to move themselves instead of doing it like the Uzumakis, carrying people through independently and calling things to them. Brought from his musings as Sakura and Ino woke up in his arms he smiled, giving them both a gentle kiss. "C'mon, we need to get up,"

"You can teleport to Izuku, five more minutes," Sakura whined, clutching him closer.

"Yeah, we're about to have a war," Ino nuzzled into his chest, trying to ignore the outside world.

"We need to get moving," He insisted, trying to sit up, "C'mon babes, you're going to be needed,"

"We know that but," Ino squeezed his arm "Comfy," He rolled his eyes.

"Come on, we can lay in for weeks after all of this is over, I promise," They both groaned,

"Fine," Letting him go the three climbed out of bed and began getting dressed, moving downstairs to find everyone, sans Izuku and Fu sat at the table.

"Morning you three," Kushina smiled, she was dressed in regular Konoha ninja gear, blue under clothes and a green flak jacket. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. Upon closer inspection, everyone was wearing some form of war attire. Tayuya, Shizune and Anko in the same outfit as Kushina. Itachi, Shisui, Katsuki and Kakashi had donned ANBU gear. The Sannin were dressed in their old grey and black uniforms, with Tsunade's having the Hokage symbol in red on the back. Temari donning a normal Suna attire, black underclothes and a beige flak jacket. With the exception of Sasuke and Naruto, no-body wore their regular clothing.

"Aren't you guys?" Itachi shrugged,

"Honestly at this point, who cares? We're a family and a clan of elite shinobi, I'm surprised that Ino hasn't been recruited to ANBU yet," Shisui smiled as he finished a flapjack. Naruto looked over to Ino who put a hand to the back of her head nervously. "Oh my god,"

"Just info collection," She admitted embarrased, Katsuki just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You two get into your actual gear," Ino looked at him and then Sakura.

"I'll explain upstairs shall I?" Sakura dragged the blonde upstairs as Naruto joined the table.

"It's going to be a big jump today then, taking everyone to the gathering point,"

"Actually," Orochimaru began, "Sasuke, Izuku and I are going to be trying something here and then joining you on the battle field, confidential plans I'm afraid," He smiled gently, "But regardless expect our aid quickly," Sasuke nodded as Orochimaru looked over Naruto's shoulder, "We may be longer than I anticipate but we will be as fast as we can," The snake grinned as Ino and Sakura returned downstairs, the pinkette quickly sat at the table as Ino stared at Naruto.

"Is-,"

"I'm mad at you," Her eyes narrowed and he gulped, "But it will wait until after we're done here," Her own mask was perched on her left temple, her eyes pierced him directly as he swallowed again and returned to eating. As everyone finished they began standing in groups, Katsuki held the ANBU dressed trio while Naruto made a clone for the others. Orochimaru, Sasuke and Tayuya stayed behind with a nod and the large group disappeared in a blinding flash.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky as far as Naruto could see. Around the seemingly indomitable force stood great stone spires, obviously made by shinobi. In each rested several multipurpose platforms. Many were rooms for the ninja of the villages that had arrived earliest. Rasa stood on one such platform, shinobi underneath him giving each other side glances and ready to fight at the signal. Mei, A, Onoki and Tsunade were stood behind him as he waited for silence. Naruto and the Midori division were stood further behind the Kages, ready to move out once the addres was finished. "Ninja of the Five Nations," Rasa began, "You are all brought here to fight as one! We have a common enemy this day, one that has gathered chakra from eight tailed beasts, today they have only one left, today is the day we unite and we stop them before they can get that chakra, today we unite and save the world!" Silence stood before him, "Next to you is a ninja you may have met before, or a ninja you do not recognize, you may have considered yourself an enemy before but no longer, because today, today we end the cycle of hatred, by uniting and fighting the very ones who perpetuate that very loop!" Nobody dared even breath too loudly, "We are no longer enemies, we have not been for years! Yet we have not truly been a single unit yet, even today you can not look beside yourself and see more than a rough ally, but now it is time to unite! Today we become one single force, ready to fight as one, to defend not our villages, but the ninja world as we know it! We all woke today ready to meet enemies, but tonight, and every night after that, we shall celebrate with brothers and sisters in arms! Because we will fight as one and we shall win as one!" Izuku began walking towards Rasa, "We will unite under one banner and from today, we are simply ninja!" Rasa lifted a single new hitai-ate, a dark green band with the kanji for ninja emblazoned on it. The greenette clearly and carefully removed his Konoha hitai-ate, pokceting it while accepting the new one from Rasa. Putting it on slowly he tied it with purpose, facing the crowd stone faced. "Uzumaki Izuku, one of the best Konoha shinobi has already been helping all five nations with preparations and fighting our enemy long before this idea was born, he was the first shinobi to fight not for the good of the village but for the good of the the villages, of all the nations, I ask you today to unite with those around like he has with all of you, unite together and fight as the Allied Ninja Forces!" People began cheering as Izuku lifted his head, looking deadset at the horizon, not hopeful, nor pessimistic but a look Naruto knew all too well. Determination. The team behind him began cheering as well as the Kage's all held up a fist over their heart in salute. Naruto grinned widely as Sakura took his hand gently, the two joining the cheering as well. Izuku turned around and walked back to the large group. "You know your roles, now to victory!" Rasa yelled, getting more cheers in response.

"You heard him Midori Division," Izuku pulled his mask down and nodded his head "Let's get moving," Naruto watched as everyone disappeared in their own colour flash. Pink, gold, black, ruby red, crimson, grey, sky blue, purple, dark blue, white, baby blue, mint green, beige, bright red and Izuku's dark green. Naruto gave Tsunade a grin and thumbs up before disappearing in his own bright yellow flash.

His first battle was at the beach. Or at least, the coast. People had called for him via the Raijin mark left on each squad's captain. He'd moved to mark people during the charge of the entire Alliance, then the First Division had broken off and moved towards their goal. Coincidentally it was they who had called him first. Taking in the area he found Zetsu were everywhere. People were sending brambles, stones, streams of fire, air and water, lightning and other substances everywhere. Ahead of him Darui, A's guard from the summit, was fighting a pair of reanimated Kumo-nin. With him was a pair of blonds, one male and one female. "What's going on?"

"These are the Gold and SIlver brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the Benihisago they hold will seal you away if you say you're most used word, even something similar will trap you,"

"But if you don't talk it'll suck you in anyway, Samui," The blonde woman nodded in greeting as she fought the silver haired nin.

"Atsui," The man lifted a hand as he distracted the golden haired man, "Darui, some help please?"

**'Be careful Naruto, this pair is dangerous, they have access to my chakra, I swallowed them whole and they refused to die, instead eating my flesh from the inside'**

'Gross'

**'I know, they are stronger than average but they are no threat to us, their weapon, perhaps we can use it against them?'**

'I like that idea' Naruto joined the fray, "Darui!"

"Yeah?"

"Think you can help me for a second?"

"Atsui, switch partners,"

"Got it!" The two men swapped opponents with a swift movement.

"What's your idea here?"

"Well, we need to think of how to defeat these guys, do you know if we can use the Benihisago against them?" Darui smirked as they leapt away from the silver haired nin and regrouped. "You know Lighting release?"

"Yeah,"

"Wonderful, get ready to hand it over,"

"What?" Naruto just held a hand out and created a Rasenshuriken.

"Add lightning to it," Darui hald a hand out to the spinning winds, eyes widening as the chakra's aligned in the jutsu. The low thrumming was joined by a high screeching. "Thank you," He hurled it towards the silverhaired man, "Rasen-dori shuriken!" The attack moved at such high speeds that their opponent had no time to dodge, instead splaying his limbs at it struck his gut. He was carried several yards out to see before it lifted off the ground and rose into the sky. The explosion cleared away several clouds.

"Ginkaku!" The golden haired cried, identifying himself as Kinkaku. The moment the name had left his lips his body began swirling, slowly getting pulled into the Benihisago. "Noooo!" His voice was becoming warped as the item consumed him. Ginkaku's body splashed down as the body was completely sealed. The four stood over the gourde, looking on as the reanimated enemy got to his feet. 

"What did you do to him?!" Ginkaku looked over at the four with rage, his body slowly getting covered in the red chakra cloak.

'You said they were no threat! Six tails looks a lot like a threat'

**'I was not aware they could reach such a state'**

Of course he wasn't. Kurama would have never heard of them again after he'd spat them out. Taking a deep breath Naruto watched the red Ginkaku growl at them, ready to charge. The blond intercepted halfway fo shore, his golden chakra cloak flowing in the wind. He held Ginkaku back with an arm. "Is that all you got tin boy?"

"How dare you!" Ginkaku roared "I am Ginkaku, the silver brother, I care not if you are the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails, I will destroy you all and avenge Kinkaku!"

"You idiot," The Benihisago began sucking the chakra consumed man in. His cloak faded as he clawed at the air. 

"No, no, nooo!" His voice suffered similarly to his brother's, warping further and further as he was sealed in the gourde. Once the body had disappeared the lid was slammed on and twisted to lock. Now the artefact was disarmed everyone relaxed.

"Thanks for the assist Naruto," Atsui grinned as the golden cloak dispelled, "Really cool," The blond nodded with a grin. They began walking towards the shore when a great wall of air knocked them over. They turned around to see Obito, walking towards them slowly.

"I must agree, thank you for the _assist_ Naruto, these meddlesome brothers will help greatly," They watched him place a hand on the Benihisago a whirlpool effect spreading from his eye.

"No!" The blond charged forwards with a kunai ready, aiming for Obito's arm. He was too slow however, as the body and gourde both disappeared into whatever Time-Space he could hide in, letting Naruto crash into the waves that had been behind him. "MOTHERFUCKER!" Something tugged at the back of his head as he turned to the trio he'd helped, "Can you handle it here?" They all nodded and he was gone.

Naruto appeared in a flash of yellow and took in his surroundings. The Fourth division was currently fighting off three figures. "Onoki, situation," The Third Tsuchikage grunted, 

"My predecessor is under Kabuto's control, he has brought back Second MIzukage and Third Raikage, the three are now attacking us, Rasa has the Second Mizukage on the ropes with Gaara's assistance," The aged man responds, "You need to take the Third Raikage," Naruto turns and the tanned skin man is easily locatable. Taking off as fast as he could, Naruto calls his chakra cloak on and gets even faster. His blow lands and sends the bulkier man rolling. 

"Not many are able to land such a blow on me," The man wiped his cheek.

"Not many are like me, if I remember my history right, you were able to go toe-to-toe with Gyuki, the Eight Tails, it was the only battle that left a scar before your three day battle that resulted in your death,"

"You're well versed in your history boy, it is true I fought the Eight Tails and fought it to a draw, that should tell you,"

"Well I guess Kurama and I have found a nice benchmark then," Naruto smirked, "Nine Tails ready to go," The two stooped low and charged each other. He knew this was going to be a battle and a half as he ducked under a punch and returned it with a gut blow. Third Raikage took it with a grunt and kicked him away. That was bruise in the making. 

**'Kit, Gyuki told me about this one, his defence is** **insurmountable'**

Naruto just grit his teeth, this man did seem impassable. He smirked, a plan forming. Third Raikage hald his hand out flat, with his strength it would be like a blade.

**'Gyuki remembered the man was unbelievably strong, his attacks did almost nothing to the man and his concentrated chakra defence, he intends to kill you with his attack'**

They charged again. He'd go for a lethal blow through the chest. Naruto made a Rasengan in his off hand, Raikage reared his hand back. With a simle Naruto pivoted on his foot, moving around the extending hand, to Third Raikage's shock. The blond slammed his orb of chakra into the man's forearm. "Rasengan!" The arm whirled around and penetrated Third's own chest. Naruto mentally celebrated how his plan had worked, it had been a huge gamble but the were little options left since drawing out the battle would be impossible. Other shinobi quickly moved in to seal the body and disable the jutsu. Naruto looked over and went straight to Onoki. The Third Tsuchikage was fighting the reanimated Second in a battle of Particle style. Two great almost clear cubes were pushing against each other. Using the speed Nine Tails mode gave him he leapt up faster than the eye could follow, he whipped out a kunai and dragged it along the Second's back. His foot caught the man's ribs as well, quickly delivering a powerful blow, breaking the reanimated Kage's concentration, allowing Onoki the opening to push his Particle style onwards and consuming Second's own style. The blond quickly jumped off the floating man's back, kicking him towards Onoki's attack while distancing himself. The white outlined cube consumed the body and it was quickly dissolved, it would take time to reform, time the other shinobi could use to get the seal ready to disturb the jutsu and stop the Kage. Turning around he focused on Rasa and his fight, ready to assist.

Only for him to see the body beling sealed in a coffin of sand.

Rasa was sweating and had several wounds but he remained standing with a powerful smile. His arm was outstretched and fist clenched. Naruto ran over and grinned at the man. "Nice job Kazekage!" They were about to recuperate when

"Great Flame Destroyer jutsu!" Naruto turned back around to see a wall of orange fire barrelling towards them.

"Water style! Wall of Water!" A row of Kiri ninja stepped forwards and spewed water to meet the flames, resulting in an explosion of steam. Fortunately Rasa had Temari in his division from the start, 

"Wind release! Sky cleansing jutsu!" A whirlwind took the steam into the sky clearing the field of vision. Naruto heard many people take a step back as they recognized the man before them. A man that had been heralded as a destroyer. The only one capable of matching the First Hokage, God of Shinobi. Before the Fourth division stood,

Madara Uchiha.

"I-it's him!" Several people muttered, "He's here!" More cried out in fear as Madara began walking towards them. "Here he comes!" People began swallowing and reaching for weapons. Several brave ninja yelled out, ready to die fighting, moving to meet Madara. War cries broke out as both parties sped up. Naruto was ready to collide with the reanimated man as a green streak moved past him, striking Madara and knocking him back across the field by several miles. Izuku rotated in the air to land on both feet, back straight. 

"I need to borrow some Fire and Lightning ninja, only two of one and one of the other, get them ready for me to go, I'll keep the bastard busy,"

"You wish to face me boy? Have you learned nothing?" Madara suddenly weilded his war fan in one hand, the scythe in the other hand, both connected by a rope at the bottom. IZuku held up a hand and turned into his ANBU uniform, he slowly moved a hand to his arm. From the sleeve on his lower arm a ring of weights emerged.

"Oh I learned plenty Uchiha," Izuku growled lowly as he dropped the weights, which cracked the ground as they landed. He did the same with the other arm. "I learned how to match you with weights on me, I damn near killed the clone before he could get the final chakra," His hands disappeared under his shirt and unwrapped more weights from his stomach. Naruto gulped as he held Rasa back with an arm. Izuku had never taken all of his weights off, training was too important for him. "I learned your movesets, how you work, most of all I learned you are arrogant to a fault and a hypocritical madman," Weights were taken from his shins as the greenette stood up. "Now it's time to get really serious," He disappeared with a body flicker, they watched Madara suddenly double over and get sent flying to the side. Izuku appeared where Madara had been stood, his fist raised before his middle and index finger and pointing the other way and pointing forwards. It was a simple message _go around_. 

"Rasa, Onoki, we gotta go around these guys, move towards the mobile center, get our wounded treated and ready to fight again," 

"Alright Fourth Division, we're going to leave this to Uzumaki Izuku, follow us!" They began racing ahead. Naruto let the others run past him, keeping an eye in case anyone was left behind. fortunately he'd intervened before anyone could get mortally wounded but there was still severe injuries. Quickly joining the back of the group he kept watch on the division as Madara and Izuku brawled it out. The Uchiha crashed into the ground besides the moving army, turning with seals already forming. Naruto was about to intervene when Izuku slid into position under him, his foot snapping upwards and colliding with Madara's chin. Flames spewed into the air as a result, everyone kept moving quickly. Cheers for Izuku began rippling through the crowd as they all supported him. Naruto heard two _Sharingans_ activate before the two disappeared entirely, their clashing only audible with a green and red streak carving the air. An Izu-clone put a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, Madara will retreat first, but the boss is going to need medical attention, get Sakura soon as you can," He nodded as the clone disappeared in a cloud of chakra smoke. He turned around as the battle continued behind them.

"Wood Clone jutsu!" Madara's voice rang out, he saw four Izuku's pop into existence.

"Wood,"/"Water,"/ "Stone,"/"Shadow Clone jutsu!" They chorused. An army of Izukus now blocked off a legion of Madaras. "You shall not pass!" A Madara raced for Naruto before slowing considerably and being pulled back into the miniature war. "Not past me Uchiha! Naruto get moving!" The blond nodded and turned around, watching the back of the Division lead him.

Izuku appeared in a green flash, Naruto and Katsuki ran over to him and caught his slumping body. The second blond had appeared, claiming that he needed to take Izuku and the other ninja back soon. The had been several hours ago. Sasuke had appeared to check in and noted that things were going to take a while before he disappeared again. The greenette currently being held up was smiling and giggling like a madman, they laid him on a bed as Sakura began checking him over. "He fled," Katsuki and Naruto shared a furtive glance before looking back to the looping brother, "He fled Naruto, he fled," The mutterings descended into cackles. Sakura slapped a hand over his mouth while she continued to look for any dangerous injuries. Aside from the few cuts and grazes there was nothing wrong with him. 

Physically at least.

Naruto saw his brother's eye dilate as he kept cackling under the hand. Until there was a deep breath and Izuku relaxed. "I won Naruto, I, I was finally able to beat him, Naruto,"

"That's awesome bro, really, you," His sleeve was grabbed as blue eyes met green,

"No, Naruto, I _beat_ him, not a Wood Clone, or a genjutsu, or with my chakra cloak, _I beat him_ , using nothing but taijutsu, kenjutsu and ninjutsu,"

"Wait you mean," Izuku's smile threatened to break his face.

"I'm stronger than Madara Uchiha,"

"For now," Katsuki folded his arms, "Hate to burst your bubble, but he's got to get the Rinnegan yet,"

"I know but I'm stronger than Madara in his base, I know the Rinnegan's abilities and weaknesses as well, so combining the two may make him more dangerous but so long as he doesn't have an ass-pull power up I can beat him," Izuku clenched his fist, "I have to beat him, we need everyone to fight off the Ten Tails,"

"But, you said it," Sakura began

"I know what I said," He hung his head as he took a shaky breath in and out, "But it turns out they didn't need Naruto at all, Kabuto did them a great favor by reviing assholes that previously stole some of Kurama's chakra," He spat looking at the floor,"Madara told me they're using the Gold and Silver brothers, since they absorbed some of Kurama's chakra, they're being absorbed into the Gedo statue in place of taking it now," His face darkened, "They're doing it tonight,"

"What do you mean tonight?"

"What I mean is get the five Kage and Mifune here now," Katsuki nodded and disappeared in an orange flash. Naruto and Sakura looked to each other before seven figures returned in a flash. "Call a retreat,"

"What?" Tsunade stepped forward, "Izuku,"

"I said call a retreat!" He sat up, "They have the Nine Tails chakra that Ginkaku and Kinkaku stole years ago,"

"Listen brat," A lifted a hand,

"No, you listen A," Izuku poked the man's chest, "I am not risking the lives of untold amounts of Ninja who can never and will never match Madara without his Sharingan, you are going to call a full retreat, leave the Midori Division behind and bolster defences," Each word was a jab into the man's torso, "I will not have your idiotic need for superiority cost innocent and good people their lives," A hand wave as the poking stopped, "So you _will_ call a full retreat, you _will_ leave this area and make sure your defences are stronger, so strong in fact, that even the Sage of Six Paths himself and the Mother of all chakra combined can't get through them, do you understand me Raikage?" A straightened his back.

"Why?"

"Because, the Ten Tails is a monster, anyone without something the opposition has is attempting a suicide mission, the New Sannin have the strength, the Jinchuuriki have the Tailed Beast chakra, the Uchiha have the _Sharingan_ and Katsuki and I have all five releases and kekki genkai combined," 

"And what of us Kage?"

"You are needed as leaders, fight the ones that come after you, but leave Midori Division to do its job,"

"Which is what Izuku?" Rasa stepped forwards, the greenette's face darkened.

"Finishing it," Climbing off the bed he walked over to Katsuki, "We will be borrowing three of your shinobi, they will be unrelated to all but our mission, they will be returned to their Divisions by tomorrow evening at the latest," With that the Primal duo disappeared without another word, only a flash of green before dead silence.

"Alright, you heard him," Onoki turned around, "We order a full withdrawal from the area to all Midori Division room to operate at their fullest," Tsunade, Mei and Rasa all joined him,

"You are listening to him?" A turned on his heel and dropped his jaw in shock.

"You aren't?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"He is a child, he doesn't,"

"Let me make this clear _A_ that _boy_ has been through more than you will ever comprehend, he has done more that anyone could ever ask of a shinobi and he has done it for the good of everyone, if you do not listen to him and people die, they will blame _you_ , he will blame you and he will seek to avenge the people _you_ killed," Rasa growled, "If you wish to ignore him, ignore him, but do not lead others into Death's maw because your pride is at stake,"

"When you get to my age, _if_ you get to my age Raikage," Onoki hummed, "You will learn that leaving it to someone else is the best path to take, we are not fleeing, we are moving our more vulnerable forces out of the area, so that the powerhouses can stretch out," Mei nodded,

"It is a tactic I learned working with him and Katsuki, while they helped us in the civil war,"

"And the army of white Zetsu?"

"Will follow you," Naruto folded his arms, "Which is why he said fight the ones that come after you, because this isn't going to be an easy battle, they will not hesitate to sacrifice their troops, Izuku will, so better than that,"

"Move all the troops out of the battle field," Tsunade turned back to the exit, "You are either with us or not Raikage, Kumo can withdraw from the alliance at any point," She waved a hand, "But that does mean Kumo must leave the battle altogether, because this is a war for the Shinobi Alliance," A stiffened as he thought about it. Silence reigned for several minutes.

"We will not be able to retreat all at once," He turned to the other Kage, "Divisions will leave together but we must stagger depature in order to maximize survival chances," The five left the medical tent talking hurriedly as Ino entered. She immediately came over and hugged both him and Sakura.

"I heard the Fourth Division met Madara,"

"They did, Izuku fought him off apparently," Sakura huffed and crossed her arms, "He is incredibly reckless, he didn't know if he would win this time, yet clearly leapt in headfirst, now he and Katsuki have kidnapped three shinobi for a half baked plan I'm guessing and they won't be back until tomorrow," Ino pursed her lips Naruto raised his hands defensively,

"I don't know, do not ask me," He placated, Ino raised an eyebrow before slapping his chest.

"How could you not tell me you were part of Midori squad?"

"I'm sorry, it's just," Pouting and looking sad he muttered, "I didn't want you to worry," Her face softened before she caught herself and narrowed her eyes,

"No, I'm mad at you," Rolling his eyes he grabbed her arm,

"You don't mean that," He grinned, running a hand up the inside of her arm, "You don't," He insisted as she opened her mouth, her face began to flush as he stepped into her space, the hand that had slid up her arm snaking around her back. "Because if you did that'd mean you wouldn't let me do this," Kissing her softly he pulled away to see her mind crashing as steam trailed from the top of her head. Sakura mad a small noise before the blond turned to her. "You know I love you too," Grabbing and pulling her into his other arm he gave her a chaste kiss. They shared a mischevious look, "Anyway Ino," The blonde was shaken from her stupor and looked between them, "When were you going to tell us you were ANBU?" She began opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, blushing a deep crimson.

"I, well, I, you see, I, it's just," The duo laughed,

"We get it Ino, don't worry," Sakura smiled warmly, "Although I think that means we get a free pass since you're the one that got angry," 

"No, we don't," He stepped in, "It's fine, honestly, come on, we need to get ready for tomorrow, sixteen to three might seem like great odds but,"

"When it's Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha boosted by the Ten Tails, you take all precautions," Ino nodded tiredly, "Plus it's been exhausting fighting all those Zetsu,"

"Oh, oh, is someone tired because they had to fight Zetsu? I took out Third Raikage and Second Tsuchikage after helping to defeat Ginkaku and Kinkaku at the coast," She playfully slapped his shoulder before the three turned to leave the tent. "Although I didn't realize they'd end up using that against us, Obito appeared and stole the gourde we sealed the brothers in, I almost had him but the bastard used his _Sharingan_ ability to retreat before I could get him," Eyeing the horizon he knew that two madmen were out there, readying the destruction of the world.

"Alright, people are falling back, we have few men left here, some that wouldn't willingly leave us," Ino yawned as Naruto searched for a top in his book of seals.

"How many we talking?"

"Only Guy, Lee and Kakashi honestly, everyone else doesn't want to disobey their respective Kage," Sakura shrugged as she tried smoothing out her shirt and putting on her flak jacket. "And really those three can look after themselves,"

"True, but Izuku probably won't like it," He grumbled as he finally found the shirt and threw it on. Grabbing a jacket from a different seal he slid it on before trying to organize his hair. "How many divisions left to mobilize?"

"Fifth division is leaving T minus half an hour," Ino combed her own hair gently, "We're expecting the Ten Tails to arise soon, so we need to get moving as well," She hummed for a moment, "Dad says he's going to keep in contact with me while the others move, with such a small force we'll be easier to organize, plus we'll need an eye on our backs since we have a small squadron,"

"That I understand," The pages of his book flipped as he pulled out different equipment. Kunai to refill his pouch, exploding tags, shuriken, his tanto, a few Demon Wind shuriken. The pages changed again, chakra restoration pills, some slow tags, chakra blocking tags, bomb balls, wire and some rope. Taking an entire page of seals out he slid it up his sleeve, he was going to need as many substitution items as possible. "I still can't believe Izuku sent a clone just to say that you specifically got to stay with the Midori division,"

"What can I say?" Ino shrugged "Izuku knew I'd be able to multitask like that,"

"Actually," Sakura interjected "It's because he knows you'll have the strongest two way connection to HQ," The blonde pouted as the pinkette. "Naruto, are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be baby," The jacket grew slightly tighter as he zipped it up. They slowly made their way from the tent and Naruto made a few Shadow Clones to dismantle it. The remaining ninja were gathered having breakfast and preparing for movement. Randomly greetings were thrown to him as they made their way for food. A certain ravenette was waiting for them.

"Izuku is going to be a while," Sasuke handed them bowls, "We need to start preparing to fight without him,"

"What do you,"

"Exactly as I said," He grumbled tiredly, "Izuku isn't going to be showing up at the last second this time, we need to be ready to fight without him," The blond groaned quietly. "Look, I don't like it anymore that you do, but what he's doing might take a very long time, he didn't even tell me what it was, it's just going to take a very long time apparently, so we need to prepare for a fight that doesn't have Izuku, we still have Katsuki, that's a Primal chakra advantage,"

"Yes but it's not _Izuku_ , Katsuki is a power house sure but there's nobody that comes close to Izuku, not anymore," The _Sharingan_ weilder opened his mouth, "He beat Madara, without powering up, he saved the entire Fourth division and kept _the_ Madara Uchiha on the backfoot, greenie has battle experience, more than any thanks to the Shadow Clones he sent worldwide," Sasuke paused,

"He beat Madara?"

"Eleventh time's the charm I guess," Naruto shrugged "Look I know Katsuki could probably match Madara jutsu for jutsu, but Izuku matches him in speed and raw strength, we want a war of attrition here, and the only way we'd win that is if we have Izuku tiring him out," The table was tapped several times, "We kinda need him on the field, there's not many of us so stalling for time won't give us a lot of time anyway," A nod, "I'm not letting sacrifices stand either, so we need to keep everyone alive, meaning we have less time to stall for, so Izuku needs to get his shit done and get back here," Uncaringly shrugging and eating a mouthful of food Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment, "You, dude, this isn't good y'know,"

"Oh no shit, but you forget who we are and who we have with us,"

"Important people, special people,"

"Powerful people," Sasuke corrected him, "People that trained us collectively, Kakashi has Guy and Lee, best taijutsu masters in Konoha, Itachi of the _Sharingan_ and Shisui of the Body Flicker are a duo the world fears to meet, Ino Yamanaka, training her body so hard that evasion becomes muscle memory, meaning she one of very few that can use Mind Transference while still moving, Sakura Haruno, the new Sannin and next Tsunade, even capable of using Wood Style without the need for Lord First's cells," He just sat quietly, "Sasuke Uzumaki, next ANBU leader, slated to have a title created just for him," The ravenette smirked proudly, "Naruto Uzumaki, son of the Forth Hokage and slated to be Lord Sixth Hokage, if not Seventh, Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails and uniter of the Five Nations, against Obito Uchiha, head of the Akatsuki, which members have all died by our hands, and a reanimated Madara Uchiha, Bitchboy of Lord First, if we got to Madara's age when First supposedly killed him, we could beat him one on one with a hand behind our backs, we got this,"

"We got this?" Naruto raised an eyebrow,

" _We_ got this," Sakura nodded gently, taking his hand, "We're all going to make it home, if only because you're going to make sure we do," Ino nodded in agreement, a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll all get home soon,"

* * *

Itsuka woke up warm, which was the normal part, the weird part was she woke up face down. She never slept face down, so waking up as such was alarming. Until her mattress shuffled and _rolled over_ her eyes widened in panic as she tried to move from the steel claw grip around her midriff. "Stop it," His voice came from above her head, "It's Saturday, sleep in," Kage's arms tightened around her, she looked up at his flat face, eyes closed intentionally. He was here, he'd stayed the night, the _entire_ night. That was, that was. "Stop kicking me," They rolled further and she made a quiet 'eep' as he rolled _on top_ of her. He wasn't wearing a cloak, meaning his mask was on. Oddly though he held no weight, looking down she could see his legs were,

Oh god,

They were _between_ hers. His arms now rested either side of her head, his elbows just above her shoulders. His face buried in the pillow next to her head beside his arm. "How are you comfortable?" She hissed, his head rose lazily as he looked to her,

"I sleep outside most nights, with nothing but a bed roll on me, I can sleep _anywhere_ ," Itsuka wanted to test that theory but before she could her bedroom door began opening. The ginger stared at the door in mild panic as her birthmother poked her head in. "She sees you in bed as normal, act like I'm not hear," His breath was hot on her ear, despite the mask and she resisted the shiver down her spine.

"Itsuka, I was just coming to see if you were still asleep, we were thinking of going out for the day, say an amusement park, maybe some ice skating, would you be interested in coming?"

"Hm? Oh," His breathing was beginning to take over her thoughts, "Ice skating sounds fun, but, uhh," Kage _really_ needed to stop shuffling right now, "I'll, I'll go along with the group decision," An eyebrow was raised at her,

"Are you okay Itsuka honey?"

"Yeah, yeah sorry mom, just, sleepy," Her birthmother checked her watch, his arms shuffled against hers, Itsuka bit her lip.

"Well it's still early, so why don't you go back to sleep for five?" Itsuka just nodded and laid her head back down, trying to act normally. Her mom left the room quietly as she let out a sigh of relief. Immediately stiffening as she felt Kage relax onto her body,

"Will you stop, please?"

"It's kinda hard to move, when your legs are around me," Her eyes widened, as her muscles began listening to her again. Sure enough she could feel Kage's waist under her calfs being pushed against her waist. "You didn't notice?" Hurriedly she let him go

"Of course not, I was busy trying to make sure I didn't look like a looney to my birthmother," She hissed, stretching her arms above her head.

"Well considering that it was a large movement of muscles I'd assume that yes, you would notice," His hand clamped over her wrists as he leered over her, his face inches from hers. As her face went red he quickly let her go and rolled off of her. "Look, I, I wish this was under better circumstances, I do, I wish to Kami that I didn't have to do this," Itsuka started feeling sick, "I," He sighed and took a deep breath, "I'm not going to be around a whole lot for a long time,"

"W-why?"

"Things are, well, they're not really very good back home, I, I have to go to war soon," Her eyes began watering, "There's a high chance I'm going to get hurt,"

"You, you m-mean die, don't you?" Her hands grabbed whatever they could,

"No, I, there is a small chance I will die, I will more likely be put out of action for a very long time, so long that you may forget about me," Gently she was pulled into his chest, "I, when you next to meet Yumiko, tell her that I have asked if she could introduce you to the other few, I have copies telling them the same thing," Her body curled up unwillingly.

"No, I, I'd never forget you Kage,"

"It will be better for you, it will hurt less if you do," She looked at the expressionless mask.

"N-no, I refuse, I don't care if it, if it hurts, I don't want to," Clutching him tightly, she listened to his heart gently beat. A hand on the back of her head and her eyes closed.

"Itsuka, honey, time to get up," Her mom opened the door, startling her awake. "The group's decided we're going ice skating today,"

"Alright mom, just let me get dressed," The door closed and she climbed out of the bed. Shivering slightly she walked over and closed her window, she didn't remember opening that, even in the night. Walking past her bed, something crinkled under her foot. Looking down she saw, "Leaves? How did those get in my room?" Sweeping them up and putting them in her bin, she questioned the deep pang in her heart. As she got dressed and looked at the bed, she felt as if she was forgetting something.

* * *

Enri found him sat down. It was odd. Simply because he sat at the edge of a rooftop, looking across the street into Momo Yaoyorozu's bedroom. "Enri," He greeted quietly, that was sending more alarms off. "I need to ask you something,"

"What?" She sat down next to him and he offered her a cookie again.

"I need you to look out for her, Mina Ashido and Itsuka Kendo," Despite the shadow covering his face, she could feel the pain in his smile. "There's a war brewing back home, one I have to go and fight in,"

"You are worried saying goodbye will ruin them?" He laughed gently, humor was his coping mechanism then.

"No, no, i am far too good at goodbyes to know it won't, it won't ruin anyone," A wistful sigh, "Mainly because I will be wiping their memories, the day after tomorrow, starting with Young Miss over there," A small nod, as Enri dropped her cookie to the street in surprise.

"You, wiping their memories?" 

"It is for the best they do not remember who I am, so that they do not hurt," Quiet contemplation, "I will die in this war,"

"You don't,"

"I do know, because I am fighting an enemy that will be require me to call upon power that I can not stand, the stress I will be putting my body under will end up killing me," Her face dropped,

"What?,"

"I have come to terms with it, everyone dies at some point, it just so happens mine is sooner than the rest," He leant back and looked up at the stars, "Do you fear death Enri?" Before she could answer he continued, "I don't, I haven't for a while, not since I found my home, not sicne I found my true family, your wife, is she important to you?"

"Yes, my family is more important to me than the world itself,"

"So if you had to burn yourself up to save them would you?" Silence was his answer, "Of course you would, because you love them, you want them to be happy, even if it means you can't be there yourself, that is why I admired you Endeavor, you were a people's champion long before you were the symbol of jutsice," Her eybrows rose, "What? You think All Might is the only one with a moniker? No, she is the symbol of hope, that things will be alright," The venom in his voice highlighted so problems he had with the number one hero, "But you? You're the one that doesn't destroy city blocks in a brawl, quick, clean and efficient, you'd make a good kunoichi if you didn't yell every attack, but I digress, my family, in my home, I love them more than anything else, the brother born to my adopted mother was the first true family I had, he didn't reject me, he didn't hurt me, he worked with me, ate with me, helped me when I was low, and so I have been doing everything I can to make sure he gets the happy ending he truly deserves,"

"And what of yours?" A sarcastic laugh,

"Me? No, men like me don't get happy endings, we die in the shadows, forgotten in the annals of history, but weirdly I'm okay with that," Her motherly instincts began kicking in and she reachde out for him, not missing the small flinch he held, "I am prepared to die if it means saving my family, because I know with or without me, they shall be happy," a hand rubbed his back, "I used to wish for a happy ending, a wife and kids, a nice house with a picket fence, nine to five job, maybe even being a stay at home dad, it didn't matter to me," Her heart began clenching "All I ever wanted was to be loved by somebody, the man I used to be is dead and gone, he died a very long time ago," A seventeen year old should not talk like this, "I, when I found him, he needed love more than I wanted it, so I gave it to him, in order to protect him, I, I killed the people trying to hurt him, trying to kill him, and there was a lot of them, Midorikage isn't a name I selected, it is a reputation people gave to me, because they fear me," There was a lot of trauma this young mind was carrying, it was clear to Enri, "I, there's little to no people I can let in anymore, it's been far, far too long, letting these girls think they were winning against my walls, it would be cruel to then let them remember what they did," He stood up, "I will be doing the same to Rumi soon,"

"Why not me?"

"Because I need someone to remember me, someone to watch over the new generation, those three girls, they are a lot like you," There was a seconds pause, "Very open minded, patient, they will be the ones to usher a new age, better treatment for my fellow men,"

"You think a small group of people can ever change fate?"

"It's the only thing that ever has," A curt nod, "Enri Todoroki, it has been a privilege to meet you, a pleasure talking with you," As he walked away he paused and looked over his shoulder, "And truly an honour to call you my friend," He was gone before she could even open her mouth. The hand reaching out for him lowered back to her side, the sorrow in her heart was replaced by a cold rage. Turning to look over the city, she came to several conclusions. Number one, that boy had been severely hurt by someone of this city, if he spends so much time around here, it must hold importance to him. Number two, he had suffered so much trauma that he valued his own life so worthless that he was ready and willing to die at the first sign he could. And number three.

She would find answers with All Might.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, as you can probably tell we're drawing close to the end of this story, even the 'Kage' prologue is closing now. I probably have two or three chapters left and I'll be taking my time with them to make sure they're good. Lemme know your thoughts about everything. I love reading them all.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	27. The past can't stay buried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of what can only be the end.
> 
> "At last we shall free this world!"
> 
> "You know nothing of suffering!"
> 
> "Sorry we're late!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING PLEASE OH PRETTY PLEASE READ THIS.  
> The Enri segment of this is incredibly dark, as in referencing repeated sexual abuse, you'll know when you get there but oh my god please if that type of thing upsets you PLEASE feel free to skip it.

The ground rumbled as the last of the Division disappeared over the horizon. Naruto found himself relaxing significantly as he turned to face the team he had left. Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakasi, Itachi, Shisui, Guy, Lee and his fellow Jinchuuriki. They had forty five Tails combined against Ten Tails, seven _Sharingan_ to four and seventeen fighters to two. On paper it would be a clean sweep.

On paper.

In practise however, Naruto knew they faced much greater odds than that. Worst case would be the Ten Tails could spawn more Zetsu, meaning it was the seventeen of them against an army, plus the other odds. Best case they came away with a few broken bones and a hard won victory. They began moving towards the battle field in a triangle formation, him leading with four Jinchuuriki either side of him, B and Gaara the immediate behind him. Shisui and Itachi were next, then Kakashi and Sakura. Ino moved in the middle of the two legs, protected from attack since she was their communication to base. Guy, Lee and Sasuke formed the back line. Sasuke taking point behind Ino, his _Sharingan_ giving him the vision to see the group entirely. They ran through the flatland, the scenery blurring together. Moving in total silence they all knew where they were heading. It wasn't going to be a field of flowers.

They saw it first. In honesty it was hard not to. The Gedo statue was gigantic, Izuku had described it like the twisted body of a person. Arms to long and thin, its appearance was wrapped in a blanket of rock but that was the body. Pillars stuck up from its shoulders, rising higher than its head. Honestly Naruto thought that it was a mountain range behind the monster before the shoulders came into view. Its legs were similar to the arms in so they were too long and spindly to match such a gigantic creature. There was one deviation from the description however. Izuku had said that on its face should've been a blindfold like feature. Instead were nine bleeding eyes, proturding from the chunk of whatever the creature was made of. In few words, Naruto found it was nightmare fuel. No matter how quickly they won today that visage, the whole creature, would be etched into his terrors for days to come. The group kept their pace fast and profiles low. No doubt they stuck out like a sore thumb against the flat lands and the brown earth. Gritting his teeth, the blond pushed the possible nightmares to the side, focusing on the two tiny dots atop the Gedo statue. Madara and Obito. A Shadow Clone quickly fell into the group. "Kakashi, I have a theory," The silver shinobi looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"You told me you've fought Obito while I was on Turtle Island,"

"Only a skirmish or two yeah,"

"And you said the _Sharingan_ he weilds allows him to phase through attacks, sending items when they get close, right?" A nod, "So where does his body go?" 

"I'm not following,"

"Obito has Kamui, since you have his eye and it has Kamui, normally _Sharingan_ have linked abilities," Sasuke called out from nearby, "Like my Amaterasu and Kagatsuchi, Itachi's dual Tsukuyomi and Shisui's dual Kotoamatsukami, whether it's actually Kamui or not is irrelevant, they are linked," Naruto held a thumb up from the front. "You aren't thinking what I'm hoping you're not, right?"

"Maybe I am, depends on how you think about it,"

"You can't be serious," The two had a silent argument, "He wants you to send a Shadow Clone into Kamui space to hit Obito when he tries phasing through our attacks,"

"It might work, but once we do it once, he'll figure out our game plan,"

"Which is why it's a dumb plan," Sasuke grumbled

"Except if we keep him using Kamui he'll end up overusing his _Sharingan_ and either go blind or get trapped in Kamui," He bit, "Or we send another clone once I know he's dispelled the first one,"

"A chakra heavy plan,"

"For you maybe, I can use Shadow Clones in the thousands, we don't want a war of attrition, we will lose that,"

"You want us to hit hard, fast and precise enough to beat them before they can drag out the battle?" Shisui asked, "You realize that is the riskiest plan right? That's like sprinting at the beginning of a race only to find out it's a marathon,"

"I, yeah I get it, but we aren't trying to end this in seconds, or minutes, we just don't want this to drag on for a day or longer, I accept it's a difficult time frame but we need to do it," The ground began shaking violently as they grew closer to the statue. The body began to sprout extra appendage like objects that quickly wrapped around its body. The Statue seemed enveloped in a cocoon for several minutes. Everyone sped up, Naruto grit his teeth as they grew closer. It wasn't until they were almost there that the cocoon unraveled, splitting into tails. There were no legs to the beast, the tails leading directly into a torso with long arms and clawed hands. On its back was a conch like shell with seevral spikes protruding at random places. It held one gigantic _Sharingan_ over a gaping maw, lined with teeth easily bigger than most moutains. As the Midori division moved closer, Naruto could easily say a hand was as big as any of the Tailed Beasts, likely larger than the Beasts with fewer tails. To say the being was gigantic was an understatement, it was understandable why the Sage of Six paths and his brother needed to make the moon to seal it away those millenia ago. The creature let out a great high pitched roar, forcing everyone to cover their ears as they came to a stop. Grunting with pain he closed his eyes as the world shook, heavy wind buffeting them for several minutes. As it stopped they all leant on their back foot. "On second thought, let's not go with that plan," This was not going to be easy.

As they reached the monster, all Jinchuuriki leapt up and transformed. Eight Tailed beasts and golden upright Kurama attacked. At least they tried to. One of the arms swept across the air, vapour trails forming in the limb's wake. The Tailed Beasts were knocked aside with ease, crashing down with earth shaking impacts. "Pathetic," Madara yelled to them. "This is what you haev to save the world? A little motley crew ready to fight the Ten Tails? Pathetic," Naruto growled lowly, "You truly believe that the tiny group of you can do anything against us? Incompetent fools, we will dispose of you and then at last we shall free this world," The Tailed Beasts got back up, spreading out in a semicircle.

"How about shut up?!" It wasn't the best retort, he knew that, it was dumb and stupid, but he to busy trying to figure out a winning strategy. He handed control over to Kurama and watched as the Nine communicated.

 **"Everyone, together!"** His mouth opened and a purple orb began growing, **"Beast Bomb Barrage!"** Several small Tailed Beast Bombs fired from each Beast's open mouth. The Ten Tails simply sat, opening its own cavernous maw. A Tailed Beast Bomb was made and swallowed before a great beam broke the sky line. Sweeping from side to side it destroyed each barrage before they could land. The Tailed beasts tried to cover themselves with their tails, the beam striking and erupting around them. 

"Oh shit!" Naruto was quick to take control back from Kurama and move to shield the others, still on the ground. They were taken into a foot of the golden Kurama avatar quickly moved up into the head with him. The beam was almost upon then when the golden tails curved up and around them, it struck and became a cone behind them. Ground was carved up horribly behind them as they stood in shock. "Kakashi, can you take Gyuki and Chomei in Kamui?"

"It's possible, why?" They didn't have much longer for the smoke screen the beam generated.

"Just trust me, alright?" The silver haired ANBU nodded before looking at the Seven and Eight Tails.

**'I let them know your plan Naruto'**

They both left a substitution tail behind as the smoke began clearing. A single kunai was fired into the air, a Shadow Clone puffed and grabbed Kakashi, both disappearing invisibly thanks to the golden aura around them. There was a small yellow blip above the Ten Tails as they saw both Beasts emerge for the Space-time Kakashi had hidden them in.

 **"I'm gonna smash this into his eyeball!"** A small Tailed Beast Bomb was quickly collected and fired. The single eye looked lazily at the Beast before a hand was lifted and the ball flicked back to him. **"Huh?!"** He was back on the ground next to golden Kurama as the bomb went into the atmosphere. There was another explosion, this time on the Ten Tail's head. It made no movement of noticing the attack however two bodies now fell towards the floor. Chomei cheered at the landed attack before she too was back on the ground, on Kurama's other side. Naruto made a Shadow Clone, who's eyes faded from blue to red as Kurama took over.

 **"Alright Naruto, leave this to me,"** The ninja were quickly dropped at the ground before the golden aura Kurama faded into a normal looking Naruto. The true blond led the charge towards the last Uchihas while his Kurama controlled Shadow Clone quickly burst into Kurama's true form. **"This stretch is long overdue!"** He smirked as the Tailed Beasts rallied behind him. **"Let's take down this parasite!"** Against the battle of chakra beasts, the team of nine moved towards the pair. The Uchiha pair stared angrily as they charged. "Shisui, Itachi, on Madara, Guy, Kakashi, Lee, take Obito, New Sannin, we're going to be playing support, Ino stick back, provide cover fire and communication with HQ, everyone understand their roles?"

"Hai!"

"Let's move!" The teams broke off. Itachi and Shusui activated their own _Sharingans_ as Madara sneered,

"The clan killer and the pacifist? You think these two Uchiha will,"

"We are Uzumaki you insane bastard!" Shisui stepped in first, entering a taijutsu battle with the man. As the reanimated Uchiha stumbled backwards, Itachi landed in the space between, taking over the series of strikes. Obito frowned as Guy threw Kakashi forwards. 

"Kamui!" The Anbu was absorbed into a whirpool of air as Guy and Lee were enshrouded in bright green flames. Naruto was skirting around the edge of the fight as they watched Madara push both _Sharingan_ Uzumaki's back with his blue Susano'o. In response Itachi's orange and Shisui's green both whirled into being. Madara's continued to grow into a full body Susano'o and beyond. The chakra avatar had four arms, each holding a blade as tall as the bigger trees of Konohagakure. Each side of the head had a menacing face. It was covered in armour with dark red eyes glaring down pure evil.

"Behold, the Perfect Body Susano'o, weaklings without the _Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan_ have no hope to,"

"Well old man!" Shisui yelled "We're just full of surprises!" Both other Susano'os grew to match him, "You forget we had a pair of _Sharingan_ to swap and some Primal eyes to evolve," Naruto opened and closed his jaw in surprise, "My student's eyes not only gave me my sight and my _Sharingan_ back, but they have evolved further thanks to his chakra!" Orange and green began melting into the other. The two newest Uzumaki's called out, "Combined Perfect Susano'o!" Their chakra's swirled together. It resulting in a larger Susano'o, it also had four arms, except they swirled with the two different colours. The head was wrapped in bandages but one eye and a short nose protruded from the gap in the binding. It held the Totsuka blade in one hand, Shisui's Susano'o's drill blade in the opposite hand and the Yata Mirror in the off hand above the drill blade. Both men stood in the jewels shaped box at the top. The great chakra avatars were quick to resume clashing as Obito tried avoiding Lee and Guy's onslaught of attacks. It wasn't until Guy's leg began phasing through the Uchiha's gut that a blow was landed. Obito doubled over as Guy's knee passsed through him, before his head snapped back from a phantom uppercut. Naruto grinned, the three had decided to go for that plan anyway then. As the New Sannin kept moving to intercept attacks and keep Obito from hitting the bowl cut duo, two other battles waged around them. Firstly the Susano'o battle was circling them with great clashes and the Ten Tailed Beasts fought above that. Naruto looked over to his new brother.

"Sasuke, go!" A nod from the ravenette and the boy jumped away. The fourth hand of Itachi and Shisui's Susano'o stretched out to grab him, letting him phase into the body before carrying him into the jewel box. The Susano'o melted again before purple was added to the mix, a third set of arms joining with a bow strapped to one wrist.

"Triple Susano'o!" The three _Sharingan_ using Uzumaki's called out. The avatar grew in size again, now it just cleared Madara's Susano'o. The madman laughed as he fought the three.

Naruto and the others were fighting Obito as hard as they could, forcing him to move into Kamui and letting Kakashi strike him. They didn't get many chances to do that though as he just kept avoiding them. Eventually there were two swirling points as Kakashi fell into the world while Obito left it.

"Just in time Kakashi!" Naruto grinned helping the man up, "Obito was about to go for you, how'd you escape?"

"I threw a kunai, used Kamui on it and charged into the vortex after it," He admitted quietly, "It was a dangerous play but it worked," Obito reappeared again, frowning viciously at the shinobi opposite him.

"Is that really how you wish to think Kakashi?" A sneer, "You really believe this world is worth it when all is brings is suffering and pain to those that live in,"

"You know nothing of suffering!" Naruto snapped over the man, looking into the mismatched eyes. He had one Rinnegan implanted into his left eye. "Tell me, who did you lose?" A hand was waved around, "Because Kakashi sensei lost his parents, the pseudo-parents that took care of him afterwards, he lost you and he lost Rin to a suicide by his Chidori!" The space between them was closed as he punched the Uchiha in the face, breaking the mask over it. "Sasuke Uzumaki lost his entire clan, he lost his sensei's by the order of a madman you manipulated! You think you know how it feels to hurt? You know nothing!" The Ten Tails roared again, silencing and stopping all fighting. Shukaku and Son Goku slammed their tails into the floor.

 **"Vast Earth Core!"** Both cried out as lines formed in the ground. Soon the Ten Tails was trapped in a titanic hole. Son Goku then bulged his cheeks and spat out white liquid. **"Quickslime jutsu!"** Saiken Isobu and Kokuo joined in

 **"Waterbomb jutsu!"** Everyone watched as Kokuo continued, this time with Kurama and Son Goku joining back in,

" **Majestic Flame jutsu!"** The Ten Tails was now trapped in what was effectively quick dried cement. The Susano'os disappeared as Madara and Obito leapt to the head of the beasts.

"Alright guys!" Ino called out raising a fist. "Our plan worked like a charm!" They all quickly reunited on the groups position, the Jinchuuriki all hitting the surface running as their Tailed Beast returned. Naruto's Shadow Clone walked over to him.

**"Sorry Naruto, we all need to recharge that pest ain't a pushover,"**

"That's fine Kurama, rest, we're doing well so far," The group all looked down at the Ten Tails, Naruto held out a hand and a Rasen-Shuriken whirred into his palm, a bird screech as Sasuke added his Chidori to it. Itachi put his hand towards it, water quickly joining the swirling mass. Shisui stepped forwards, adding fire to the mix. Kakashi held a shaky arm up, his palm almost against the wind blades. Rocks formed between the water and fire. Naruto gazed at it in shock, the Rasengan was sat in the very core, a swirling mass of water riding the blades of air. Pointed stones spin perpendicular to the wind fan seemingly giving the fire on the outer edge more fuel. Lightning crackled over and underneath the massive jutsu. It felt lighter than air as he lifted it high above his head. "How about this Obito?" The two Uchiha looked up at him at the ledge, his foot stomping down. "With my family and friends, our will shall over power yours and change reality itself! The whirling mass was thrown towards the head of the Ten Tails, "Uzumaki jutsu, Rasen strike!" It was an odd sound, the humming of the wind, screeching of the lightning, crackling of fire and rushing water mixing into one. Even the twisting stones made a low thrum against the silence that existed before. They watched it home in on the pair. They quickly began moving backwards as the tails unfurled to have hand like ends. They saw the hands reach from the top of the effective cage as the Ten Tails _jumped_ out of the crater. Naruto stared in shock as he took in the new seemingly more nightmarish form it had taken. If the Gedo statue had seemed malformed the Ten Tails was borderline nightmarish. Legs that were tinner and ganglier than those of the statue were bent supporting it, the complete left arm also bent to make the humanoid figure appear to be on all fours. The right arm stopped at the elbow leaving a closed stump just shy of where the joint would be. On its head was several horns appearing to mimic a crown like feature. The most hideous part though, was the mouth. It was filled with flat teeth that would crush just about anything between the jaws, stuck in the left side of the beast's head. Opposite was one lone ear, it seemed to be the most normal part of the being as it was just a regular ear enlarged many thousands of times. As it roared it fired off a Beast Bomb Barrage of its own, except the balls were as big as a regular Tailed Beast Bomb. The group watched in fear as the ball landed in the area around them. Naruto was glad the Kage had told the nearby villages to evacuate for the time being, otherwise there would be innumerable deaths. Turning his attention back he watched the Ten Tails fire off two gigantic Tailed Beast Bombs at high angles, almost as if they were aiming for something far away. "Wait, no, Ino! Tell everyone to scatter! There are,"

"One is on a direct course for HQ," She had tears streaming down her face, "Shikaku is giving us a last ditch plan that,"

"EVERYONE MOVE!" Kakashi screamed as they all looked back at the Ten Tails, which was aiming another incredible Tailed Beast Bomb at them all. Despite the grey shinobi's warning, nobody could move. This was impossible, they were going to lose? Naruto tried creating another chakra shroud to protect everyone but Kurama was still to low. He turned around naively trying to protect everyone with his own body as the purple orb bore down on them all.

_'Honestly a bit of faith bro'_

His eyes widened as the orb behind him disappeared in a flash. Katsuki stood in front of them instead, grinning madly.

"Sorry we're late!" He smirked "Izu-bro needed to make a quick detour, told me to use these though," A knowing smile as he held two different kunai in his hands, both sideways. Black symbols folded out from both forming webs centered around them. "Kakashi a lift if you please," Kakashi was quick to cast a jutsu lifting Katsuki up on a stone pillar. No sooner had he reached the perfect height than the webs seemed to bend inwards and fire, Naruto stepped backwards as he watched both gigantic Tailed Beast Bombs move through space and fire back at the Ten Tails, impacting it harshly. "Brace for impact," A explosion from the sea rocked the area, wind threatening to push them over as the recoil from the other two explosions rocked the ground. He grunted but the noise was lost to the gale. Everyone fell into defensive positions. "You guys have done great so far, but now it's our turn!" The air flashed green for no reason as nothing appeared, "There he goes, right! I'm off, you guys get organized!" Wait, Izuku had moved before the flash stopped? As he opened his mouth to respond a new voice grunted,

"Fine, brat," Several figures appeared from kunai that had been half buried into the ground. Four figures appeared to fight, three of which were incredibly familiar.

"First, Second, Grampa Third?!" Sasuke cried out, "Who's,"

"Sensei?!" Kakashi stepped forwards, "Is it?"

"Hmph, Sarutobi, you sure raised a noisy generation," The Second Hokage sneered,

"As much as I wish to take credit, this lot raised themselves," Grampa Third smiled before the fourth figure stepped in,

"A problem I want to discuss once this is ove _Sarutobi_ ," Wait a minute, the blonde hair and that cloak.

"D-d-dad?" Naruto stepped forwards, the Fourth Hokage turned around and smiled nervously opening his mouth, only for Naruto to sock him in the gu, "You deadbrain bastard!" His father stepped backwards, clutching his stomach,

"Yeah, okay, guess I earned that one, I am sorry Naruto, but I did what I could at the time,"

"I'm not mad about Kurama, I'm mad you died on me!" Shock passed over the older blond's face, "Well, whatever, we can have a proper chat when this is over,"

"Naruto, I'm only a," Kakashi stepped forwards,

"You're not reanimated sensei, you've been revived,"

"I, but, how?"

"The same thing that always caused and solved problems for me," Grampa Third nodded wisely "Izuku Uzumaki, one of your adopted sons,"

"One of?" Itachi chuckled,

"Mom said the same thing as well," He smiled "Currently you have me, Sasuke, Katsuki and Izuku as adopted sons, but Kakashi and Shisui are also part of the Uzumaki clan," Minato blinked before sighed,

"Well, it can all be explained later, what of your pink and blonde team mates? And the other eight individuals here?"

"Sakura Haruno Lord Fourth,"

"Ino Yamanaka Lord Fourth! These are the other Eight Jinchuuriki!" Both girls bowed deeply,

"Ah so, excuse me but are you Naruto and Sasuke's girlfriends?" The group save for the eight Jinchuuriki looked away and rubbed the back of their heads, "Eh?"

"They are both dating Naruto, Minato," Grampa Third supplied, "Kushina took it similarly, until Izuku explained it all to her," Minato again shook his head,

"Look, I understand that you've been gone a long time but can you save that for later? Right now we need to focus on winning the war,"

"Tobirama!" First scolded "The boy and his father have just met for the first time, have some,"

"It is alright Lord First, I was about to tell my dad we would catch him up once the battle is won," Naruto smiled with thinly veiled anger, "We fought you a few years ago when Orochimaru was still under Danzo's control,"

"Danzo? He is,"

"Later Second, we must focus on winning the war," Sasuke spoke with a smug grin as most secretly enjoyed the look of annoyance on Tobirama's face. Several loud thuds began registering as they turned to see Izuku and Katsuki repeatedly punching away at the Ten Tails,

"I've been waiting for you Hashirama!" The First Hokage turned to Madara, who had landed on a nearby outcrop of rock.

"I will deal with you later!I have to stop the Ten Tails first!" They could see the visible cringe in Madara's face,

"It is fine Lord First, you go and fight Madara, the rest of us are strong enough to beat Obito and the Ten Tails," Itachi smiled, "Please, keep him busy for now," Hashirama looked to him before observing the wider group and nodding.

"Very well, you seem a powerful group," He leapt away as Naruto stepped forwards.

"Alright, let's kick some ass!" The group charged forwards, ready to fight.

The Ten Tails reared back, a sweeping tail bearing down on everyone. A green flash and they were back at the beginning distance. Katsuki was grinning despite the various bruises and patches of dirt on his body. "We're doing it Izu-bro!" They all turned to see a glowing Izuku, his body covered in a dark green haori again. His skin had gone a dark green too as his hair stood up on end, pebbles were rising around him body too. A look over his shoulder revealed his own _Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan_ was active.

"Good, all accounted for," His voice held odd reverb, "It's going to fire again, we need to contain it this time, Lords Second and Third, please stand still, we will be using the Six Crimson Ray formation," Tobirama weaved the signs as he nodded, only two Shadow Clones appeared,

"Only two?" He lamented as Izuku walked over, planting a hand on the man's back,

"Now try,"

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" A much larger group of Tobirama doppelgangers appeared, baffling the Second Hokage, "H-how?"

"Primal chakra, it is an incredible blessing we still do not understand," Grampa Third nodded as he put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "I take it,"

"I have clones in place yes," A second Third Hokage appeared "Now I will be back, Dad, if you could make a Shadow Clone while I'm gone," They disappeared in a shimmer as Minato put his hands together. He disappeared in seconds before Izuku was back, "Wonderful, now, New Sannin, there's going to be a small army of Ten Tail spawns, miniature clones of the Beast, please eliminate as many as possible, Uchiha cousins, please cover Ino Yamanaka, she will be our field communication, linking myself to all of you and HQ," An Izu-clone appeared and knelt before Ino, bowing his head. Six red walls began rising behind them, entrapping the Ten Tails, "Other Jinchuuriki, please fight using only your chakra to allow the Tailed Beasts to recharge, we will undoubtebly need them again soon, Hokages you are,"

"Hold on brat," Tobirama growled "Myself and Fourth don't even know who you,"

"Uzumaki Izuku, the first Primal chakra user in the ninja world, adopted brother of Uzumaki Naruto, student of Itachi and Shisui Uchiha now Uzumaki, weilder of the Kotoamatsukami _Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan_ , only non-Uchiha born that has displayed control over a _Sharingan,_ made ANBU at twelve and studied under the best the world has to offer, including the Samurai of the Land of Iron, became infamous as Midorikage, kekki genkai stealer, any further questions Tobirama Senju?" Silence, "Now as I was saying, Hokage, you are either to aid Lord First or assist fighting Obito Uchiha," Izuku pointed a finger, "That's figure on top of the Ten Tails, Dad, you may be confused but you should know,"

"He's the reason Kurama was unleashed on Konoha, why you and Mom died," Naruto finished as Izuku nodded, "Izuku, are you?"

"Naruto, do not worry about me, I am fulfilling something I swore to do long ago," That didn't sit well with the blond.

"Not good enough Izuku, you either walk away from this battle or we don't fight," There was a grumble from the green teen.

"Look, there is no guarantee,"

"Bullshit, you always make it out of a fight," The purple orb exlpoded in the crimson hexagon, forcing the walls to bulge as it was all carried skywards. "Either you walk away at the end or you walk away _now_ ," Izuku sighed,

"I have five more minutes before the strain becomes too much on my body," They were suddenly inside the hexagon with the Ten Tails. Naruto nodded as the teams seperated, he watched Izuku and Katsuki disappear again in a flash. The Ten Tails roared at them, five minutes, they could do it.

No problem.

* * *

He was stood at the edge of a rooftop again, like he always was. The odd part was that he was staring towards a house, more specifically a window of the house. It showed a room glowing softly orange with a girl sat puzzled over a sheet of paper. She had pink hair and pink skin, brows furrowed as a pen rubbed the horns protruding from her curls. "Kage,"

"You got my message?"

"Kinda hard to miss when you've stuck it to my bedroom door with a kunai," It scared her how he was able to get in and out without disturbing any of her security measures. Not even the cameras at her front door or balconey saw him. The offending item was tossed underhanded to him.

"Apologies," A hand lazily caught it before retreating into his cloak. "But I needed to see you sooner than later,"

"Why? Getting bored of being a Peeping Tomo?" His hand moved out of the cloak to point to the girl,

"That is who I called Radio Head, she doesn't remember me," Odd, Kage was a pretty memorable person, namely because he was a guy but also because he was one of few people to outpace Rumi in jumping.

"She? I find that hard to believe, you're not easy to forget?"

"I sealed away her memories of me, as if she never met me, everything I inspired her to do is buried in her subconscious, she hasn't changed save for a few small details,"

"Such as?"

"Determination, confidence, ability, otherwise she is still the same Radio Head I saved from falling," Rumi stepped backwards, that was a rather ominous sentence "Have you ever danced Rumi?" Shaking her head in confusion she raised an eyebrow to him. "It is not that hard, I learned during a civil war," He'd been in a civil war?! There was clearly a lot more to this seventeen year old than she thought. "You are graduating soon, right?"

"Next March," His right hand slipped around her waist.

"Odd? It's been a year and a half since we met, were you not a second year when I first fought you?" Her right hand was taken in his left and stretched out to the side.

"I was a second year, we met in April, three weeks after I started my second year, I'd already made a name for myself as a sidekick in my first year," Was it September already? Time must've gotten away from her. "I saw you Christmas before my twentieth, I'll be twenty-one this January, then March I'll graduate from UA," They were slowly dancing around the rooftop as they spoke, moving in small circles and swaying side to side. "Kage I,"

"It's been two years since I started my little adventure, I've seen two Christmases, with Cuddle Bug, Young Miss, Radio Head and with you Little Bunny," She denies her heart soaring at the nickname, "However I can see you kept my gift to you, has it served you well?"

"It's saved my bones and life more than I care to spill," The guard seemed indestructible to all things for whatever reason,

"That is good, I hope it continues to serve you," The warmth Rumi felt told her he was smiling under those shadows. "Y'know you're the first person I've met that can match my wit and clap back against me," She smirked "I always liked that about you," A body shiver before Kage stepped out of their dance. His cloak swirled off his shoulders as a mask clipped onto his face. "Here," It was clipped around her neck, "I had some modifications done to this one," As the hood was pulled up strips of velcro seperated, something touched the back of her ears as the velcro was redone. Lifting a hand to her head found that the hood had holes cut for her ears to stand up out of. Kage stood in the cold, shadows still clining to his body yet showing off his defined figure as a silhouette. A new cloak shimmered into his waiting hand as he put in on in one motion. "I noticed your leotard doesn't exactly come with a winter outfit, this should suffice, it does not ruffle, stain or shine, it is perfect for night and movement in the shadows, use it will Rumi, it is my last gift to you," Alright, she really was _not_ liking how he spoke.

"What's going on? Why are you erasing people's memories? Why is this a final gift?" He sighed as the mask was removed,

"Simply? I will die soon," What?! He was seventeen, he had, "I turned eighteen recently, I have known my whole life that someday I shall die, whether it was peacefully in my sleep at a nice old age, after all my battles had been fought, or in the middle of one of those battles, fighting for what I believe in," Her eyes widened "Do not worry, most in this world do not know my birthday, "But as it turns out, it will be the latter way, I shall die unleashing a power that I have sworn not to use, I will die as quickly as one would fall asleep with as much pain and fear too,"

"Y-y-you're, you're okay with dying? Just like, like that?"

"I made a promise to myself a very long time ago, that I would protect the people I care about with everything I had, no matter the threat, currently something with power unheard of is shaping to be the threat I have to face, it will force me to call upon all of my power and use all of my strength, the memories I am sealing are the ones that would cause them the most pain, of them believing they had broken some sort of wall down when all they did was give me a window, thinking they had saved me when they hadn't come close, it would hurt them more and more each night I don't visit, each call I do not answer, so I have taken their memories and put them far into the subconscious, where they will never draw upon them for anything except dreams," That was, that was unreal, he, he wanted to be forgotten?

"No," He paused "I refuse, you can't erase my memories of you," Turning and leaping away, she had forgotten that he could easily match her leaps with minimal effort. "What of Erazerhead? Endeavor?"

"Aizawa will forget in time due to her own prejudices and unhealthy habits, Eri will forget with her youthful mind, Todoroki I am trusting to keep the next generation in line,"

"So why me? Why can't I?"

"Because it won't effect them like it will you Rumi," He snapped, throwing her off so much she missed her landing. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his body, spinning to land on his back. Sliding to a stop without so much as a grunt from him, Rumi sat up on his stomach, her hands pinning his shoulders. His hood had somehow stayed up while they landed, his shadowed face looking at her. "I, it, the memories will only seek to hurt you, I do not want that, therefore I will take the measures necassary and make sure you can't remember me," Tears ran down her face,

"No, no, I don't want, I don't want to forget you,"

"You'd forget me anyway," His voice was soft and that only made it sting more, "You'd forget me in time and then when you realize you had, it'd only hurt you even further,"

"Kage, I," Despite her hands on his shoulders he sat up and faced her, forcing her to slide into his lap.

"It is okay Rumi," His hands cupped her face, drying her tears with his thumbs, "You are strong, stronger than you know, because along with this beautiful outside of yours, you have one of the most mesmerising minds I have ever met, you don't realize how creative and far out of the box you think, not once has your quirk limited you to who you are, hell, you befriended the brother of a fox," She hiccuped out a laugh, "Rumi Usagiyama, you are probably aware of the laws surrounding me aren't you? How my civilian form must take multiple wives if I am to stay out of the compounds?" A shy nod, "But you didn't know I was going to try and court you as well did you?" That only increased the damning pain in her heart, "And know that if I come back, I will find you first,"

"Promise?"

"I swear by the Shinigami," The calm passion and care that she couldn't help to believe him. Her hands found fabric on his chest and pulled. Dragging him forward to met her lips, she kissed him deeply and held him tightly. She had no more tears to cry as they parted quietly, looking for any sign of a face in the darkness. 

"Alright," Her voice wavered as she stood up, "I'm, no, I'm not ready,"

"You'll find when it comes to things like this, no-one ever is, even I wish there was a better way than this, but I can't guarantee I will return, this is probably the only way to make sure I do not hurt you, even as a memory," He got to his feet slowly, standing up straight, Rumi tilted her head slightly to look at his dark visage. Her heart panged at the idea of forgetting him.

"Will it hurt?"

"No, it won't," His hand moved from his cloak, his index and middle finger pointing at her. She closed her eyes as they drew closer, tapping her forehead.

Opening her eyes she looked around, how, when did she get on this rooftop? This new cloak was working wonders but she didn't remember buying it. This rooftop was far off her regular route so what had caused her to get so off course. "Miruko," Endeavor landed nearby her, the flames of the heroine turned off for the night. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm, yeah, hey do you know how I got here?"

"Not a clue," The symbol of justice quickly looked away, failing to hide the brief flash of guilt.

"Really? I cause the last thing I remember was stopping a hit and run about nine blocks that way," She pointed in a vague direction, noticing how her supervising heroine cringed before turning back to her, "What do you know?" The face changed to one of undisputed anger,

"I don't know fucking anything," She didn't miss the whispered "Apparently," But figured it was best to leave it alone for now. The two got ready to return to regular patrols when a figure in the corner of Rumi's vision snatched her attention, they were completely silhoutetted against the moon before she turned to focus on them. Only to see nothing was there. Humming in confusion she turned away and jumped, trying to figure out why it caused such a deep stir in her heart.

* * *

Shoto Todoroki heaved his breaths. "Can, can I please take five minutes? I'll die if we do anymore," Enri frowned for a moment, regarding her son. Normally he'd have enough energy to go ten more minutes. Even after Kage had told her he was goign to die and she had ramped it up, the Shoto was always bouncing with energy after the hours of sparring with various weapons. Although, his stance did seem shakier today. Just like the last few weeks. Weirdly it also appeared to be the same day every week. No, that wasn't weird, it was concerning. Handing him a bottle of water and several nutrient bars she gently helped him sit down. 

"What happened?"

"Nothing, nothing," He quickly waved his hands, "Just tired is all,"

"Uh huh, then explain how every Saturday you seem exhausted beyond measure?"

"It's nothing, Shoko says I," Eye widened in panic, "I mean it's just, it's," Now caught out Shoto began panicking. "I, it's nothing," No, he wasn't panicking, he was having an anxiety attack, Enri could identify those easily after being a heroine so long. Rei, bless her soul, would have one every so often back when Enri first started being a full time Pro.

"What did Shoko do?"

"I, nothing, Shoko didn't do,"

"If you don't tell me, I'll go and ask her,"

"I, no please! Just,"

"Shoto if she's hurting you, I need you to tell me," Hugging her son gently she kissed the top of his head, "How am I supposed to protect you when you don't talk to me?"

"You shouldn't protect me, I'm just a worthless useless male," It broke Enri's heart to hear her son talk so badly about himself, "Just, don't waste your time, we don't have to train anymore, I know,"

"Shoto Todoroki don't you _dare_ suggest you are worthless or useles, don't you ever think I am wasting time with you," He softly wept into her chest, "You may be a boy, but you are _my_ boy, my son, I love you, don't you even entertain the thought I don't," Rei appeared at an open door.

"I got worried when I heard silence, I figured he'd collapsed again,"

"He pratically did," Enri shook her head as the white haired woman stepped closer. They sat either side of him for a moment before Enri got up. Rei took Shoto into her arms, patting his head softly and cooing reasurrances to him. Quietly closing the door she made her was through the house, to her youngest daughter's room. The door opened swiftly and slammed shut behind her. "What did you do?"

"Hm?" Shoko didn't look away from her book, which was upside down.

"What did you do, to your brother?"

"I didn't do anything to him!" The book was torn away from her hand,

"If you're going to look busy, next time make sure the book is the right way around. Shoko tried to grab for is as Enri turned it in her hand to see. "Is, is this money?" Notes were gently covering the page, most likely held in place by Shoko's thumb. "Wh-where did you get all this?" There was almost fourteen million yen in between the pages. (Roughly $135,000 or £100,000) Enri stared in shock as Shoko looked like a deer in headlights. "Where's the rest of it?" Here eyes darted first to her wardrobe then a chest of drawers before finally settling on the bookshelf by her door. Going to each one in turn Enri found a large mason jar stuffed full of notes at each place, hidden under piles of clothing in the wardrobe and drawer and behind a small series of books on the shelf. Each one held incredibly high amounts of money, placing all three on the floor, Enri sat down and stacked up the notes beside the jars. It was a good think mathematics was a forte of her's in University. She took maybe a few minutes to finally conclude, "These are from the last few months, aren't they?" The stack from the book filled a quater of the jar, meaning that one jar was one month. Whatever she'd been doing to Shoto had been going on for at least three months! The fact she wasn't looking at her daughter should show the disappointment words failed to explain. "Is this everything?" Silence, "How much more is there?" More silence "Shoko, how much more is there?!" The teen stared silently at her,

"I spent it all,"

"And that was?" More silence, "Shoko,"

"He should be grateful anyone wants,"

"Shoko Torodoki, that is your brother, now how did you get this money?"

"Some girls at school, word got out I have a brother, girls wanted to,"

"Sweet Christ, tell me you did not prostitute your brother out," Silence again, it was now making Enri mad. "How long," Shoko looked away, " _How long?!"_

"The others did it too!" Useful but not what she wanted,

"How, long?!"

"Just two years," Something in her brain snapped, most likely a blood vessel bursting. She stood in silence before picking up all three jars and the loose bills before walking out of the room. The other three would be out right now, shopping for whatever. Enri left the cash in the living room closing the door behind her and hoping her daughters made a habit of keeping reciepts.

Rei left the house with Shoto immediately after hearing it from Enri. Taking him to Nezu directly to try and get Hound Dog to help him. Enri knew the school was going to be biased against him like the larger public but her son needed help and if she has to threaten her alma mater than so be it. She was prepared for it, as her three other daughters entered the house they stopped and gazed at her, waiting in the hall with her arms folded. "Living room, now," She walked away curtly, entering the room and living the door open wide. Shoko sat, pretending to be bored on the couch, while her eyes kept flicking to the jars as her fingers tapped anxiously. There was no less than fifteen jars, six in Fuyumi and Natsumi's room, three each and another six from Touko's room alone. To say she was apopleptic was an understatement. Fuyumi and Natsumi both paled as they walked in. "Sit," They joined Shoko on the couch. Touko walked in and looked at the jars.

"You went through our stuff?"

"Sit," As her eldest opened her mouth Enri repeated "Sit, now," There was no room for argument. Silence reigned as she looked over her four daughters, "Words do not put into adequate measurement how disappointed and disgusted I am with you all,"

"For what? Saving up?" Touka pointed to her jars, each labelled _First house pot_ and number one to six, Enri estimated there was about three hundred million yen altogether, a third of the price for a three-LDK apartment, Touka was always claustrophobic. Fuyumi's and Natsumi's were labelled as _Savings Christmas_ and _Holiday fund_ each containing just short of a hundred and seventy million yen between all three. Shoko's were only labelled _UA_. 

"For pimping your brother to your friends,"

"He needs to pay to stay, he doesn't do,"

"People won't hire him, _you_ however, are a graduate and still don't have a job," Touka wisely closed her mouth, "Now, I was certain I wasn't raising thugs, but here we are," She shrugged "I'm having to actually talk to you about letting people rape your brother,"

"And? He should be grateful anyone wants," Fuyumi shrunk as Enri eyed her,

"He should be grateful anyone wants to what? Give him the time of day? I can not believe i have to remind you that your brother is human, just like you,"

"No, he's a _male_ , if you won't sell him to the government he should at least give the family something!" Natsumi snapped, Enri closed her eyes, she didn't want to yell, she didn't want to yell,

"He is _human_ the same species as you, he is a human with human rights, you have been charging people to let them sexually assault him, I found the rope burns on his wrists, not to mention the notches on his bed from where you restrained him, the cloth you'd gag him with, even the fucking prices for positions," She didn't want to yell, she didn't want to yell, don't yell, don't yell.

"What's the problem here? The government do it to men all the time," Don't yell, don't, "He's just a byproduct of how you got me anyway," Don't yell, do not yell, "Touko told me all about it, how mom wanted to trial a new method to use two eggs instead of a sperm, how you were anticipating a daughter but boom, you got, Sho _ko_ and Sho _to_ ," Do not yell, just don't, "Why can't you be honest with him and just admit he's a mistake?" _Ping_ oh hey, the final nerve just snapped.

"YOUR BROTHER IS NOT A MISTAKE!" Ah shit, "HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK LIKE THAT!" The four all paled as their eyes widened, "I AM ASHAMED AND DISGUSTED WITH ALL FOUR OF YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS CONVERSATION HAD TO HAPPEN, NOR THE FACT I AM HAVING TO YELL AT YOU TO GET THE POINT ACROSS! SHOTO TODOROKI IS YOUR BROTHER AND YOU SHOULD TREAT HIM AS SUCH!" Collecting herself she took a deep breath, "None of you are getting an allowance ever again, starting in the New Year you'll all be charged rent since you think Shoto needs to pay to stay, as do you four, the money in these jars is confiscated and _will_ be given to Shoto, if you even think of trying to take any of it back you will be punished much worse than I am doing right now," She closed her eyes "And you will be paying Shoto every single yen back and you are to _never_ and I mean _never_ do something like this again, am I understood?"

"But ma!" Natsumi exclaimed, "That's not fair! It's like a bajillion yen!"

"Then you best get a job soon and start actually saving," Her arms were folded again, "And the printer in my office will be printing ever single reciept you ever made for this inhumane trade, I found your records drive," They looked at the floor, "I am horrified that you would treat your brother in such a cruel and vicious manner, consider yourselves extremely grateful you are not on the streets without a yen to your name right now," Loading the jars into a box Enri left the room as Rei and Shoto returned. Her wife simply sighed and looked at her,

"Next Tuesday, half an hour, all they were willing to give," Steam left Enri's nose with her angry breath. "Go, I want to talk to these four now," Gently taking Shoto's hand, Enri guided him into the house. They had barely reached the stairs when Rei's voice echoed.

"IF I EVER, EVER EVEN CATCH WIND YOU HAVE DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN SO HELP ME YOU WILL BE ON THE STREETS WITHOUT EVEN THE CLOTHES ON YOUR BACKS! I DID NOT RAISE SUCH VILE AND DISGUSTING PEOPLE!" Enri grimaced, Rei didn't shout often, even when she did it was muffled in the room next door. The fact they could make out every word so clearly meant the four had reached a whole new level of fucked up.

"I- I'm not in trouble, am I ma?"

"No, god no Shoto," They entered his room and the box was slid under his bed, "That's going to be a trust fund for you, the girls will be giving you some envelopes from now on, put all of them in there," He nodded slowly. "Can you help me get some blankets and pillows please? I'm going to be bunking here with you for a while,"


	28. The planet turns, the world burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan never survives contact with the enemy example A:
> 
> "Shit,"
> 
> Example B:
> 
> "I know now, what I must do,"

Time was up.

Everyone was pulled back outside the barrier, Izuku fell to one knee, blood spurting from his mouth as the chakra cloak vanished. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve as Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "This isn't good,"

"You think?"

"Tobirama, with all due respect," Naruto began

"That is to say, none," Katsuki supplemented,

"Shut up," The blue eyed blond finished eyeing the albino Hokage. "My brother has been forcing his body to survive a power he still can't fully access, so I really would appreciate it if you didn't open your mouth unless it was information we can use or something constructive,"

"I'm fine Naruto," The greenette stood up,

"You are not," Sakura stepped in, putting her hands on his back, "Just by looking at you I can tell your body is tearing itself apart trying to support what you're unleashing,"

"My body has served me this long, it will do as I want it to," Naruto smacked him around the head,

"Sakura, keep him out here, the rest of us are going back in," The pinketted nodded, Izuku shook his head,

"I can still," Sasuke struck the back of his knees, forcing the teen to the ground.

"You are staying here until Sakura lets you back in," The ravenette insisted, leaving Izuku no room to argue. "Katsuki, can you do?"

"I don't have the control yet, it's leave me an animalistic mess, I'd be more hinderance than assistance," The Primal user shrugged "We really need to get this figured out before they get to Jinchuuriki phase or this fucker levels up again,"

"You mean it has a third form?!" Kakashi stepped backwards.

"It has four," Izuku grunted as Sakura kept her hands on his back, "After the third form it will become the World Tree, at the very top will be a bud, most likely containing the _Rinne-Sharingan_ the eye of the beast, ready to reflect it on the moon tonight at midnight," Putting his hands in his lap he bowed his head, "Ino, on me, if I can't fight I'll strategise," The clone disappeared in a cloud of chakra smoke while the blonde moved over to the greenette. "There is not much written about this abomination, I found recordings split between the catacombs of every hidden village, just tiny pieces left behind, as far as I can tell it is stronger, faster and larger than any other Beast, it will take nothing more than a stroke of luck to defeat it as a creature," Everyone looked back at the titan.

"And what if it were to reach tree form?" Minato asked

"We could use Sage Arts to sever the trunk and effectively destroy their plan, the issue is the Uchiha duo, they will not allow us near the tree after it has taken root,"

"Of course, Sage Arts, because we," Sasuke began,

"If Katsuki and I diffuse some of our primal chakra into you all it should give you all a pseudo-Sage mode, allowing you to put Natural energy into your jutsus," A heavy sigh, "It is of course, not perfect, but our Primal chakra is far more sychnronized with nature energy than others and since Naruto, Minato and Lord First are the only ones capable of Sage Mode at the moment, it will have to be enough,"

"That's some bullshit!" Tobirama growled, "Boy, how do you know,"

"Tobirama, we can copy kekki genkai abilities, including Wood Style, that's given us a greater connection to Nature Energy," Katsuki interrupted, "Wait, Sakura, you can do Wood Style!" Everyone paused, Sakura just stared wide-eyed over Izuku's head, "You've got dual water earth affinity, you've trained with us," How did all of them miss that?! Naruto grinned widely. "Sakura, you have a Sage Mode!" Sasuke grumbled before his eyes widened and he looked at the group,

"I'll right back!" He was gone in a flash of black.

"Alright, we're a Sannin and a _Sharingan_ down," The blond sighed, "We'll make it work for now,"

"Of course, please regale us with how,"

"Need we remind you Second," Izuku growled "That Obito Uchiha only ended up the way he did because you slighted the Uchiha and Third did not deal with the situation you left him, causing the whole clan to become disillusioned because he hoped the problem would solve itself if he ignored it long enough," The two Hokage looked at each other, "I am not working with a fearful and an arrogant Kage, you will either listen to us or I will kill you myself, understood?" Naruto smirked as Tobirama went to open his mouth, "Understood?" He lowered his hand and nodded "Good, now, please, go assist Hashirama, I have a bad feeling about the battle being a form of distraction, assist him in finishing it quickly," The Ten Tails roared, everyone looked to it as the Second Hokage disappeared, "Now dad please put a formula marking on everyone, you're going to be our transport and escape, when I give the signal pull everyone out, keep a look out and if anyone pulls you, go, they will be needing your assistance,"

"You got it," Naruto watched his dad slowly move around, putting a hand on each person's shoulder.

"Jinchuuriki, all of you bar Naruto are to keep allowing your Beast to rest, Naruto stick with your chakra but you'll need to work with Kakashi and Katsuki, substitute seven style, Kakashi, I know they told you about it," A nod, "Now get moving, you get seriously hurt, get dad to bring you back, Sakura, make a Shadow Clone, Naruto the same," The two copies puffed into existence, "Mount Myoboku, now, get her to learn Sage Mode fast as you can, if needed make more Shadow Clones, her perfect chakra control should really bypass everything except the actual meditation stage," The two were suddenly gone in a large cloud of smoke. "Alright, this is going to be rough everyone, until Sasuke gets back we're down a man, act as if we aren't getting him back, I'll pull you all back when he returns," Everyone nodded, "Good, mobilize," Naruto moved in a yellow flash, either side of him was Kakashi and Katsuki, both in their ANBU gear, showing signs of tearing, the three drew their weapons and readied to meet the monsters before them

Sasuke had returned minutes later and took Kakashi's place in the formation, they changed style to the Blood Eyes style. Naruto launched his two tailed red cloak, since Kurama was still collecting chakra it was the best option for power to cost. The cloak gave him sharp claws and fangs, it also changed his eyes from blue to red, hence the style name. His aggressive fighting caused the Ten Tail's clones to target him as Sasuke sliced through them with his Chidori evolutions and Lightning release while Katsuki used Earth release to force the lightning along paths creating a devastating combo. Naruto swiped through clones as electricity danced through the mindless drones around him. Letting out a powerful roar he caused many of them around him to stagger. Throwing his hands forward the chakra hand opened as the fingers extended even further, impaling many of the clones and causing them to melt to the floor. Katsuki and Sasuke jumped to his side, they became insulated in a purple ribcage. "Do it," Sasuke nodded, Katsuki smirked and put his hands to the ground. 

"Explosion Release!" The ground around them suddenly began violently erupting, Katsuki stood up and slammed his foot on the ground, smaller explosions lingering around his hands, "I AIN'T SCARED OF NOTHING NO MORE!" They watched as he cackled and leapt away from the Susano'o guard, striking many clones and causing explosions from each contact. "DIIIEE!" Everyone felt Izuku sweatdrop from his position outside the arena. "Primal style, tandem explosives!" They watched him slam his palm onto a clone, causing it to stagger and flail, the body quickly bulged before it exploded. The clones it had struck flailing quickly began mimicking the first before they exploded too. Katsuki landed back in the ribcage and coughed into his hands. "Sorry about that, I might've got carried away," Explosions continued around them, "The move forces explosive chakra into the target, anything it touches recieves part of it too, the more forced into the first carries it on longer,"

"And how much did you force into the first one?"

"Enough for about five minutes," Both boys stared, "What? It's like one wave takes ten seconds, so I put enough for thirty waves,"

 _'Alright guys'_ Izuku mentally sighed _'When the explosions stop I want Sasuke to drop the ribcage, the three of you are going to make a Dust release combo, Sasuke use fire, Naruto Wind, Katsuki Earth, try and make the cube as large as possible before sending it forwards, Katsuki knows how to do it, Minato will move everyone out of the way so just make it and fire alright?'_ The ribcage grew a skeletal arm and held up a thumb, Izuku's presence left their mind.

"Alright, give me full Wind and Fire release guys," Both boys nodded and held out their hands, allowing the chakra to mix in between their palms. "Put them together," A whirling mass of chakra began trying to take shape. "Awesome, keep it contained," Katsuki put his hands to it and the mass quickly became a spinning cube. It had bone white borders and a blinding white orb in the center, "Naruto more wind will make it faster, Sasuke if you can add Amaterasu or Kagatsuchi?"

"I can try," The ravenette muttered, eyes widening as he enacted his ocular jutsu. The cube rotated faster and gained black edgings.

"Alright and some more Earth to make it bigger," The cube floated forwards from their hands, growing larger and larger. "Drop the Susano'o and put everything into it on three, ready?" Two grunts of agreement, "One, two, three!" The purple bones faded and all three boys yelled together.

"Co-operation jutsu, Brothers Dust Release!" The cube expanded to massive proportions, quickly touching the ground and blaring forwards. Clones caught in it entirely were atomized, those that were partially caught lost whatever had been in the cube as black flames burned around the edgings of the wound. The jutsu completely flattened the ground it bore through, black flames licking the edges of the carving. It continued going for several metres, decimating whatever it touched and obliteraing the monsterous army they faced. Katsuki cheered and held up his arms. "We did it!" Sasuke and Naruto panted slightly and grinned to each other, softly bumping fists.

"Hell yeah we did, that's what we fucking do," Sasuke pulled out his sword, letting lightning crackled up and down it. "Katsuki, protective dome please, I'm going to unleash a jutsu Izuku helped me develop," The ravenette held up an arm as the clouds formed from the fighting collected overhead, "Kirin," Lighting screamed as it took the form of a _fucking dragon_ , and roared, charging for the ground. A shelter of rock quickly closed them off from the world. Several screeching roars were heard as the jutsu took effect. "That gives us time to recover from the Dust release anyway," He sat down, "Holy shit that was powerful,"

"I know, and Izuku can do that shit on his own," Katsuki wiped some sweat from his brow, "How come that didn't take much chakra?"

"I guided the natural lightning, all the fighting and fire and water jutsus have made a ton of clouds, so I cleared the sky with a quick thunder storm, super light chakra costs that way," Naruto rested his hands on his knees,

"Well it's awesome," He smirked, "Man, who would've thought fighting in a war would've been so hard?"

"Least these guys don't bleed, god could you imagine the washing load?" Katsuki joked lightly. "Alright, we ready to go?" In response Sasuke stood up as Naruto straightened his back, the dome began rising as they yelled out their battle cry, joining the fray again.

Izuku pulled them all back again, still kneeling between Sakura and Ino. "Sakura, thank you for trying," The pinkette seemed to be tearing up. "Ino, I'm making another Shadow Clone," The true greenette stood up, "I'm not healing,"

"Uh, yes you,"

"No, Naruto," He cut in, "I'm _not_ healing," Oh,

_Oh_

That wasn't good news, in fact that was very, very bad news. "Katsuki no matter what you are never to try and reach this stage, got it?"

"I got it,"

"Good, the Ten Tails is going to transform shortly, we must finish this now!"

"What else can we do?"

"There isn't much we can on the Ten Tails at the minute, so we need to focus on Obito and Madara," Izuku began mumbling, "Alright, Madara will want to come back to life, that means using the Rinne Rebirth jutsu, but if he does that Obito will die, that want to find away around it, if they used..." The greenette paused "Obito will become the Ten Tails Jinchuuriki, he'll use the Ten Tails chakra as a sacrifice to use the jutsu, doing so would not only bring Madara to life but also turn him into the Jinchuuriki without killing Obito,"

"So our solution is to kill the guy that phases through all of our attacks?" Sasuke grumbled, "Yeah, real great plan,"

"Did you say phase through your attacks?" Minato stiffened, "Wait, Obito was at the attack back then?"

"Yeah, we don't know what role he played but,"

"He distracted me from the fight, he let Kurama loose and fought me to stop me from helping," Their dad paused "Or at least I think it was him, none of my attacks landed so I used Flyring Raijin level two, the figure seemed intangible,"

"No, no it, it can't be that simple can it," Izuku rubbed his chin, "Did you manage to mark him?"

"Of course,"

"Then you can Raijin to him before he can react," The greenette nodded, "It's the only plan we have, quickly before he absorbs the Ten Tails," Minato nodded and disappeared. Naruto yelped as Izuku grabbed him, Sasuke and Sakura, warping to their dad seconds behind him. They saw crimson arcing the air, a kunai in his hand that had sliced up Obito's chest, a killing blow. Delivered before Obito could process it was coming. The body slumped to the floor as Minato moved aside. 

"I am sorry it had to end this way Obito," They saw the mouth move into a smirk,

"Who said, it was, over?" Izuku whirled around and threw a kunai with seemingly all of his power as it became a small flash and disappeared. The Ten Tails screamed and began moving, getting drawn into Obito's chest. The tails immediately began retracting as it slowly shrunk down. Naruto grit as the five of them were forced to jump away, only for the wind to begin pulling them in.

"Everyone, make a chain!" Izuku grabbed hold of Sasuke, who reached over and held Naruto, who grabbed Sakura, who then stretched to grip Minato's haori. The five were back with the group outside the barrier. "Phew, I was expecting an explosion," He wiped the sweat from his forehead, no-one else shared his sentiment however. At least Naruto didn't. They saw a white orb floating silently for a mere moment before it cracked. A completely different figure stared at them as it emerged. The Jinchuuriki had white skin and even whiter hair, along the top of his back was five spikes, the tips alight with red flames. His right arm and part of his torso were covered in scale link pieces, his black baggy pants had appeared to survive the transformation but were still damaged from the five spikes protruding from his lower back. The five red flames extened into hands, grabbing hold of the crimson walls that had made the arena. They all watched as he pulled the walls inwards and quickly forced the jutsu to buckle. He was before the group in moments, everyone getting on the offensive to fight him. "No attacking, we need to play defense for now," Izuku clarified, "We have no idea what he's capable of anymore," Several different ninja made Shadow Clones to fight him, all of which were cut down in a moment, "Split!" The groups suddenly all disappeared into different areas. Naruto was holding Ino and Sakura while Sasuke, Itachi and Kakashi grabbed either him, or one of the girls. They watched the reanimated Hokage and Grampa Third face him. Tobirama was cut in half in moments.

"Saru, Hashi, get clear!" Paper was taken from his own reanimated body and thrown into the air. "Tandem explosive tags!" The explosions began going off continuously "That's hwo you do it brat! Concentrated and focused!" They watched as Grampa Third landed away from the Jinchuuriki, bringing a seal up to his mouth. In his free arm a massive shuriken appeared." The smoke from the explosions cleared away, showing Obito unharmed. Gramp Third threw the giant shuriken.

"Shuriken Shadow Clones!" More gigantic shuriken whirled along the first. Two orbs hovering above the back of Obito's hands moved through his palms, Kami was that gonna give Naruto a few bad dreams, and made a spear and shield each. The Jinchuuriki raced towards the Shuriken, breaking them apart on contact as the spear extended towards Grampa Third, who barely avoided it, getting a nasty slice on his ribs. As the distance shrank, the black shield disappeared back to the orb and they watched as he grabbed his face, still flying backwards. Barely even a flash before the black orb moved through his hand again and would've destroyed Grampa Third's entire body. Instead, right below the black bar, was a crouching Izuku.

"You suck," There was such contempt and sincerity in the two words that the Jinchuuriki paused, allowing the greenette to deliver a powerful uppercut. "Like genuinely," Naruto appeared to help with the combo, it appeared Taijutsu was still heavily effective against the man turned god. Their dad appeared with Guy and Lee, who were quick to succeed them, "You are so full of shit," The body was knocked back quite a distance before crashing down on the floor. Suddenly the body began bulging out at the gut grossly. Was the goal of this encounter to make Naruto sick? Because it was working obscenely well. More of the body began bulging as screams of pain quickly turned into garble. "The Ten Tails hasn't completely synchronized with him just yet," Izuku bent low, "Dad and I will make an opening, we need to take him down," As the duo moved forward the ground below began cracking.

"Below us!" They were all launched away as the Jinchuuriki's top half exploded from the floor. "He's burrowing under ground, it's just his bottom half that's here!" Naruto wished he could fall quicker as Obito's body snaked towards him, stretching out grossly. As the hand made to grab him, a purple Susano'o hand intercepted, letting him hit the ground.

"Shit!" He looked up to see Izuku and Minato getting kicked away as well. The group reunited at Obito's head, he made pained noises as his bulging nightmarish arm stretched out to them. The group ready to teleport until the arm appeared to move by itself and the shot that was fired missed. The explosion happened far behind them, causing a blinding light, white noise and a powerful gust. "There's no control over it, his consciousness is barely clinging to the power of the Ten Tails!"

"We need to finish this in one go," Minato threw a dozen kunai around the area as Obito continued his tortured screams. "I'll give you an opening," Several of the kunai exploded with the tags attached to them. Naruto put his hand on his dad's shoulder before he could run forward.

"Something isn't right," They waited for the smoke to clear. As it did it revealed an upright and normally proportioned Obito. The scales were less prominent on his right side, the spikes on his lower back had enlarged to form the tails of a haori, while the ones on his top half had shifted, positined around his neck and shoulders to form the collar of a haori. Along his upper ribs, just below his collar was a line of six magatama. On his forehead were two horns, the right larger than the left. In one of his hands was a black shakujo, reminiscent of the weapon of the Sage of Six Paths, behind his back sat a ring of the black orbs that were previously behind his hand. His eyes glared menacingly as the two parties stared at each other. Izuku moved first, charging at blinding speed to try and strike the man. The staff was lifted and blocked the attack with ease, it was quickly swung around and sent him crashing to the side. Naruto growled as he stepped forwards, Kurama over loaded him with chakra, his golden cloak returning. Izuku appeared on one knee between him and Sasuke. 

"Alright, well, fuck it," The Jinchuuriki were on the line with them. The greenette stood up slowly, "Naruto, I want you to know, no matter what happens next, I am proud to call myself your brother," Green chakra burned around him, they could see him tense from the strain. The eleven bodies faced Obito. "Now, let's break this motherfucker,"

He faced Obito in a vast expanse. It looked as if they were stood amongst galaxies, quietly facing each other. In the real world, the nine Jinchuuriki were stood in Sasuke's Susano'o, playing a tug of war with the chakra that had spilled from Obito after the purple blade imbued with Beast chakra had pierced not only his shield but the copy of the Sword of Nunoboko as well. The wound in his side had caused bright green chakra beast faces to emerge and the tug of war began. Izuku had,

"I thought you said you'd never let your loved ones die," Naruto began snarling. The greenette was currently under the care of Sakura and Tsunade, the later Katsuki had ran to fetch as soon as Izuku had collapsed,

"You once said the same thing," He looked into the mismatched eyes, frowning. "You preach of saving this world from darkness, yet you yourself are the cause for it, you lost Rin, so did Kakashi, I never knew my parents either, then again I guess I have you to thank for that," Obito made no visible reaction. "Kakashi once told me that you wanted to be Hokage, you wanted to be acknowledged by the village, just like I did,"

"What I am doing surpasses the duty of a Ho-," Obtio waved a hand,

"'There are no shortcuts to becoming Hokage' Grampa Third taught me that one a very long time ago, just after I almost lost him actually, if it hadn't been for Izuku," Naruto didn't blink as he began looking eye-to-eye with Obito, "In fact, if it weren't for him, my other Jinchuuriki would be dead, Itachi and Shisui would be dead, Orochimaru would never have gotten free from Danzo, Jiraiya would be dead, my mother and father would both still _be_ dead, Sasuke would've been consumed with hatred about now, my family would still be just me," The Ten Tails Jinchuuriki blinked at him, "If it weren't for Izuku I wouldn't be half the man I am today," He pointed a finger at the now unsure man, "My _brother_ told me once 'you can never take a shortcut to success, your goal is a path you set yourself on and if you decide to take a shortcut then you were never strong enough to start the path,"

"I am -,"

"You are Obito Uchiha, the boy who wanted to become Hokage, you are not Tobi or Madara that is hellbent on controlling the world, you never were, you were a boy hypnotised by the words of a madman," Obito now looked upset, "You were losing control earlier, what happened there huh? How did you gain back your control?"

"I,"

"You reminded yourself of who you are didn't you? That you aren't some lone hero of this story, despite Madara telling you otherwise,"

I have,"

"Look at how we got here Obito, look at the people you killed, that were killed because of your influence, the people in Kirigakure, the Uchiha clan, the people that the Akatsuki killed, the ROOT members you sent on suicide missions, Nagato, Konan and Yahiko, anyone of them could've be Rin to somebody,"

"I am creating a world where those people will still be,"

"They would still be alive if you hadn't fallen to hatred!" Naruto yelled over him, "You claim to be ending this cycle of hatred, you claim that this will ultimately bring about peace, but you are just another cog in the machine! The peace you create will be an illusion, your shortcut is full of the corpses of your friends and you step over them without a thought! Is that really something Obito Uchiha will do to achieve his goal? Is it?" The man stepped backwards "To be a Hokage is to walk a hard arduous path, but it is to make sure there is a path for the others to tread carefully! Yet here you are, claiming your shortcut is the true pathway, but all I can see is a path littered with corpses you not only stepped over, but corpses you put there," He took a deep breath, "Rin, she was someone you cared about wasn't she? Kakashi told me how you were always trying to impress her and be close to her, he told me how caring and selfless she was, how determined and unyeilding she could be, tell me, would she be proud of what you are now? Is this what she would've wanted you to do?"

"You don't,"

"I know plenty!" His argument surprised Obito, "I know of loss, of pain, because I have had to leave people I grew close to, I have had to be ready to get news someone I care about has died, my brother, my best friend, has just died trying to protect me and the ones he loved! I know that if I were to allow myself to fall into the rage and kill you, Izuku would never forgive me, even though I want to, I won't because Izuku wouldn't want,"

"But he is dead!" Obito argued "And I-,"

"Not yet!" Naruto jabbed a thumb over his heart, "Not until I forget who he was to me, to this world and its people, until Uzumaki Izuku's name is uttered no more, he is not dead yet! So look at yourself Obito Uchiha, look at all you have wrought and tell me beyond clarity and assurance, beyond any and every doubt you could ever have, tell me what you are doing is right!" Silence, he stared with anger towards the pale man, who looked down at his hands,

"I, I," Fearful eyes looked at Naruto, "I know now, what I must do," The galaxy background faded as they returned to the real world. The green heads of the Tailed Beasts broke free from the green trails which retracted back to Obito's body. His wound now gone, he lowered to the floor. He held no weapons, no sign of attack as he calmly walked along the ground. Tsunade and Sakura looked at him while their hands glowed green on Izuku's body. Naruto charged over and started the wall protecting their green haired ally. "Please, there is not much time,"

"Time for what? For you to finish the job now?" Minato growled,

"No sensei, I, there's not much I can do to persuade you but Naruto has shown me, I have wandered very far off of my path, it is time for me to get back on it," He bowed his head, "Before Madara notices, I wish to use my power to heal Izuku, to give him back what he gave up fighting me," Gently a path was opened up, Tsunade and Sakura hovered around the body. Obito knelt by his barely moving chest, the eyes looked him up and down before there was a remorseful smile. "Come Izuku, it is not time for you to be a cadaver yet," His hands weaved together, "Rinne Rebirth Jutsu!" As the white left the man's body a trunk burst from the ground and attached to his chest.

"I'll be taking that!" Madara's deep voice laughed from his battle with Tobirama and Hashirama. Obito's form visibly reverbed from the jutsu, his body quickly fading to its original form, his hair however remained pure white, albeit with a few bits of dust now in place. He fell beside Izuku his visage now tired, Naruto felt himself pale in horror as he spoke the same words Izuku had.

"I'll be up in a minute," No-one dared speak as the laughter of a maniac penatrated the still air. Gazing at the bodies Naruto fell to his knees while Katsuki uttered the words everyone was thinking.

"Did, did we just lose?"

* * *

Closing her door behind her, Nozomi heard the automatic locks click into place. Paranoia was unfortunately part of her life now she was principal of UA, even worse she was used to it from, no, not thinking of those days, they are far and long gone behind her. The final lock clicked and she walked into the small room. An agrophobic at heart she had a relatively small apartment, a single room acted as both dining and living area, a small corner of the room seperated by a counter to the main room acted as the kitchen. The front door had two walls that kept next door out and her kitchen a closed area. Off of the main room was her bedroom, which was slightly smaller due to the en suite that sat next to it. Letting out a small sigh it was much too late to turn on any mainlights and relax, she would need to cook dinner,

_click_

"Nozomi," There was a figure sat in her armchair, on the small coffee table sat a prepared meal, it appeared to be, "Katsudon, with some salmon mixed in, no poison however, I am not here for anything unreasonable,"

"How did you get in?" She sat down and began sniffing the food, true to their word, she couldn't trace anything poisonous.

"With a trade secret," A subtle nod, "For now you may call me Kage, I am leaving soon, I have already erased any trace of me," She smirked, they could get rid of the, "Including people's memories, then will recall anything about me as an abstract dream not a single detail will make sense," That wasn't likely, even memory erasing quirks wore off. "It is not a quirk, nor a technique as you know them," 

"Another trade secret?"

"You learn fast chimera," Another nod, she was still greatly uneasy, "But it appears you also forget quickly too,"

"I have never,"

"You have forgotten your roots, you allow your trauma to rule you," The figure stood up, it was distinctly male and very tall, Nozomi looked up to their shadow covered face, "Perhaps a quick trip down memory lane would work," She froze, her body stiff, but her mind far, far gone. Gone back to those days, years ago. The whitewashed room, the medical tools, the pain. Oh dear god, the _pain_. But as soon as it was there it had vanished, she was sat back at her coffee table, Kage sitting opposite her, "Tell me, why did you try and turn Shoto Todoroki away?"

"Are you,"

"I do not work with Endeavor, but I keep tabs on the boys of heroes, even if they aren't supposed to be known, like Tenya of the Iida clan, his mothers don't talk about him much, if ever, an associate of mine tries but they refuse his existence at every turn," Nozomi paused, that, that couldn't be, "But as you can tell, I'm very good at getting into places people don't want me getting into," A slip of paper was slid over to her, sure enough it was a birth certificate for _Tenya Iida_ born the twin brother to _Tenshi Iida_ , "they have to sign these document in order for the government to keep track of him, see the public doesn't know but the higher ups? Nothing exists without them knowing, except of course," The shadows retracted from his face, showing a young man smiling smugly at her, "Me," Kage's face quickly dropped, "Now, as I said, why did you turn away Shoto Todoroki?"

"Because he is a male, if UA were to support him, I would,"

"You would what?"

"Being principal is a very precarious position," The crimson eyes narrowed at her,

"The last person that said that to me failed to prevent a genocide under their very nose by a lunatic they refused to stop over sentimentality," His voice was a low growl, "The world is quite a mess right now, I _am_ going to start to clean it up, since no-one else is _human_ enough to, I don't expect you to help, but I expect you to stay out of my way,"

"You think you intimidate me?" A shallow laugh before Nozomi felt overwhelming pressure, the floor cracked below the table as she resisted the urge to be sick.

"I _know_ it," Kage growled as the pressure vanished, "Perhaps a little taste of everything I have gone through will assist," She looked at the eyes again and suddenly she was in the dark, two figures appeared over her and the cowering individual next to her. Small explosions began branding her skin around her stomach as small items were launched at her, breaking skin, bones and muscle before it was gone and they were locked away again without a word. Then she had several wounds over her body facing a new figure, one that had bandages over one arm and one eye. She protected her eyes as the figure lunged for them. A horde was chasing her and yet another unrecognizable humanoid down streets and alleys. It all hurt and Nozomi wanted it to just stop. "Has that been enlightening?" His gutteral noise brought her from the machinations of whatever he had done to her.

"Cheap drugs will,"

"Make no mistake Nozomi, those visions were not drugs, they were memories that have constructed me into who I am," A kunai was pointed at her "Prey I do not fall into the hatred your treatment of Shoto and other males seeking help has instilled in me,"

"And why is that?"

"Because if I do, I will set this world on fire and use it to light my fucking cigarette as I sit back and watch you all burn to Hell," She blinked and he was gone, a few leaves gently falling into a pile on the chair he had been sat in. Nozomi looked at her Katsudon, suddenly losing her appetite as she hurried into her room and started her personal computer.

She had some mistakes to rectify.

* * *

"Why?" She was getting too old for this shit, they discussed this before he'd left.

"I unstand you're upset Yumiko-sempai," Izuku tried to mediate, "But I,"

"Izuku you can't just send peopel to me, they'll discover the portal if things get too odd,"

"It's just three girls, three vastly different and unrelated girls, no-one's going to think anything except they all want to be heroes, come on, please?"

"You've already bloody sent them here, what else am I meant to do?!"

"Thank you Sempai!" His eyes shone,

"I hate you,"

"No you don't," He cackled, she frowned at him. He was right, obviously, but she didn't have to affirm it. "Thank you though," His demeanour suddenly changed, "For doing this, I'd do it myself but, well,"

"The war, I know, Mifune-sensei told me about how you nearly tored down the walls with your yelling, how your brother put the Raikage flat on his ass,"

"Yeah, that," Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "It's, it's not going well, we managed to revive mom but, well, dad's chakra signature was far to weak to use and we could've really used him in the fight, it doesn't matter though, I'll figure out a way around it,"

"How long do I have until the first one arrives?"

"Well, I told the first at Christmas, and the second on New Years, I still have yet to give the third her weapon, so she will be late, perhaps the end of this month?"

"This mo-, are you kidding my kohai?!" She exclaimed to him, "Honestly, you, oh my Kami," She rubbed her temples, "Alright, fine, no, it's cool, I'll train you damn lady-friends, maybe if one impresses me I'll sign her up for the recommendation exam," He chuckled softly, "Maybe, I should go now Yumiko-sempai, they other will notice I am gone if I stay longer, thank you for the help,"

"it is fine Kohai, you just take care now alright?"

"You got it sempai," His mask was pulled on as he left through the open window, the sun was soflty climbing up the sky. She looked out at the city for several minutes before leaving her office.

"Miss Yumiko, there's a visitor for you," An assistant bowed to her, "She wishes to speak with you immediately," Nodding the woman carefully walked to the entrance, where a nervous ginger was waiting, a small bag in her hands.

"Ah, Yumiko-san!"

"Just Yumiko to you child, I am too old for formalities, what is it you come calling for?"

"Oh, that's, um, may I speak with you, privately?" Leading her into a small room from the entrance, she locked the door behind them and turned back to the teen. "Um, my, my name is Itsuka Kendo, I'm, well Midorikage sent me, he told me to say that he's selected me as one of the few?" Yumiko sighed heavily,

"Alright, we'll begin with a diet plan, then we'll move onto actual training, I take it you are fighting unarmed?" A swift nod before one of Itsuka's hands reached into the bag,

"Uh, he, he gave me this," She pulled out a, sweet Kami, did he give her an ANBU mask? "Told me it would protect me from most attacks?"

"Yes, it will," A slow nod, "It's a replica of his, except this one isn't decorated, so anything you saw him take, it will take," A stern look, "Now I expect you to give this a hundred and ten percent, alright?" The young girl nodded quickly, "Good, come back when you can and we shall organize a training schedule," Itsuka beamed and bowed, giving many thanks before a quick goodbye and running out of the door. Yumiko looekd at the door as it shut.

_'Fucking damn it Izuku, what did you get me into?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys, it's me again.  
> I'm aiming to try and finish this on a nice round thirty chapters and I'm wondering,  
> should I give Obito a redemption ending like the series? If you thnk so it'll definitely be more surprising.  
> Anyways, I just wanna say thank you for reading this drabble of mine, your guys responses and comments have really given me the drive to keep this one going.  
> Stay safe and healthy all you lovely, lovely readers  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out


	29. Do not cheer before the bell tolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because you never know, for who it rings 
> 
> "Gate of Wonder, Open!"
> 
> "You do not have my permission to die,"
> 
> "And who, are you?"

Naruto stared in horror at the two bodies before him. One belonging to his brother, his _first_ brother, the man that had given him the ability build up a family. It laid still, never to move again. His fists balled up to the point his fingernails were almost piercing his skin. Tears pricked his eyes before he wiped his face with his sleeve. Next to him was an unconscious Obito, who had broken free of his hatred and anger, about to save Izuku when madara had stolen the chakra to revive himself to full life, free of the reanimation. He was fortunate enough to wake up, albeit significantly weaker than before but alive nonetheless.

Unlike Izuku Uzumaki, who laid staring at the sky, his eyes bleeding crimson.

Oddly, it was Minato who reacted first, his roar piercing the heavens. "MAADAAARAAAA!" The Fourth Hokage disappeared, with Kakashi, Itachi and Shisui quickly following him. Sakura wiped her eyes, falling to her knees next to his body. Tsunade just looked down at his face, crouching to close his eyelids,

"Ungrateful brat," She tried joking as tears rolled down her face, "I come all this way to try help you and you still don't listen to me," 

"No," Sakura mumbled under her breath, "No, not happening, not today," Her head lifted up, "Sasuke, Chidori now!" The ravenette made the wise choice to listen to the woman, lightning burning around his hand, she guided his hand over to Izuku's chest. Sasuke almost tripped as she dragged his hand down onto Izuku's ribcage. "Naruto, you get that motherfucker and you make him hurt,"

"Already on it," He moved through space to his dad, who was getting back up from being sent flying by a kick. Madara laughed,

"Oh? Did I inspire some hatred there?" He sneered "If you let me continue with,"

"Like, _fucking_ , hell," Naruto spat through gritted teeth as he held his father back. "Make no mistake Uchiha, I wish nothing more than to tear you muscle from muscle, nerve by fucking nerve, in Izuku's words 'Nothing would give me more pleasure than beating you to death with a goddamn spoon' but I'm not going to," His knuckles were turning white, "Because if it's one thing Izuku taught me, it's that allowing hatred to consume only continues the cycle, as much as you might want to, the moment you have the choice you can break the cycle, that doesn't mean I'm letting you do your thing though, no, not quite," A grim smile, "You see this is how it's going to play out," Madara raised an eyebrow in lathargic curiousity, "I'm going to take the Ten Tails out of you," He began stepping forwards, "I'm going to return that stolen chakra back to the people you took it from," his hand rose with an indignant finger "I am going to kick your ass to the moon and back and then AAAND THEN!" Madara rolled his eyes, "I'm going to bring my brother back,"

"Riveting, tr-," He was interrupted as Naruto dug a fist clean into his face, the newest Jinchuuriki rolled backwards after crashing to the ground. Naruto studied his appearance. he had white hair and pale skin, like Obito did. He was encased in a stabilized chakra cloak as a flowing white robe, over a black body suit if his hands and legs were anything to go off of. Nine black magatama formed a three by three square with a large Rinnegan pattern above them. His left temple had a horn the overlapped his forehead, similar to that of a hitai-ate. The body crashed into the God Tree, Obito had unleashed during their fight earlier, Naruto wasn't sure how he'd missed its construction during the fight but he put it down to being to focused on beating the man fast enough to save Izuku.

"Good hit," Sasuke was next to him, "Sakura kicked me out, cut open his chest and began forcing his heart to beat manually," That, that seemed counter productive, "Look I don't fucking know, she just told me to help you kill this bastard," A sword was drawn "What's our plan?"

"Win,"

"Good for me,"

"What of a plan B?" Minato steps forward only to get pushed back by both boys.

"No plan B," They disappeared forward. Naruto was in front of the Jinchuuriki with a Rasengan in hand, Sasuke was the other side, midair with his sword ready to strike. Madara ducked anc kidked off backwards. He didn't though, taking the lightning from Sasuke's blade and throwing the jutsu forwards. Sasuke kicked off his shoulders gaining more height. The torso of his Susano'o formed to fire an arrow of Amaterasu flames. As Madara moved to the side, Naruto intercepted with a hard strike, spinning on his heel to let Sasuke pass with a downwards strike. Madara frowned and spun the shakujo in his hands. The blade was deflected as Naruto moved in to stab with a kunai, the attack was dodged and his arm knocked upwards. He didn't flinch, moving with his arm up and around an attack. Madara danced around their attack repeatedly, never landing his own hit however as any they couldn't dodge was blocked by the other. Naruto leapt with a double kick before a Susano'o hand pushed him further upwards, Sasuke still tried to attack Madara. The blond spun around the stab of the shakujo, pushing against it with a chakra charged kunai. As he landed a kick to Madara's face the boys stood side to side, neither allowing fear to hold them back. 

"No plan B?"

"No turning back, no other path," He grinned, "Combo number two,"

"Basics eh? I can work with that," Both switched into their ANBU gear, "On your lead Fox," This, this felt natural, both boys stooped over and began attacking again, this time with more fury and speed. Weilding a kunai in his off hand Naruto kept his tanto in a reverse grip. He slid under a strike as Sasuke hopped over it, he crossed his arms and boosted the ravenette up and over the Jinchuuriki.

"Chidori!"/ "Rasengan!" They caught him between their two jutsus. The lightning arced around his sides and anchored to the blue orb as both boy leapt away. Madara was consumed in a massive explosion before both boys moved back again.

"Enough," Sasuke's sword was taken and put through his own chest. Naruto could tell by looking it hadn't punctured anything but it was definitely dangerous as the other hands gripped his throat. "You need a time out," Sasuke was dropped on the floor as Madara's hand moved to Naruto's gut, his fingers disappearing into the sealing. Naruto roared in pain while Madara smiled, "Now cease annoying me," Both boys fell into darkness.

"Guh?!" He sat up, a thin film of water rippled around his body. It was like the mindscape where he saw with Kurama, except the great lumoxing fox was nowhere to be seen. 

"Uzumaki Naruto," Turning around he saw a man sat on thin air with his legs crossed. The black sphere Obito and Madara had formed a ring underneath him. A shakujo floated nearby. "You are late,"

"I am needed elsewhere Hagoromo,"

"You know my name?"

"Of course I do, the Sage of Six Paths, my brother made sure I knew about you, you're technically the father of the Tailed Beasts and my best buddy Kurama,"

"Your brother? Are you referring the the green haired boy?"

"Izuku Uzumaki, by will not blood," Naruto nodded slowly as he stood up, "Now I must go back and help my friends,"

"I will not be keeping you long, I am merely here to explain things to you, and that Uchiha Sasuke,"

"Uzumaki Sasuke, he's my brother now too," The large head of the shakujo hit the floor, causing the water to ripple with a loud high pitch chime from the hoops around the end. Naruto looked down at his feet to see a reflection of Sasuke staring up at him, both waved a hand numbly, "I am conversing with you both right now, do not worry, neither of you are dead, merely in the deepest levels of consciousness, where I could reach you safely," Naruto sighed and sat down, crossing his legs.

"With all due respect Great Sage, please do so quickly, I want to help my friends,"

"Your friends will be alright for now, they are fighting quite well," He sighed "Regardless, I am an an anachorism, I have travelled through time before now, doing as my sole purpose anymore," The water showed a line of Deity Gates, "Trying to reunite the reincarnates of my sons,"

"Uh-huh,"

"You aren't surprised?"

"More like indifferent," The Sage seemed surprised "Look, I get reincarnation and I get wanting to fix a mess you've made, which brother am I?"

"You are Ashura's reincarnat, the one who accepts the help of others and believed love to be a uniting solution for problems,"

"That makes Sasuke Indra's reincarnate," Hagoromo nodded.

"He always did everything on his own, leaning on solely his own strength," The water rippled again "There is a great threat this time, one of Indra's reincarnats, Madara, is alive again, not only upsetting the balance of chakra and time but of life itself, you see, Madara and Sasuke are reincarnats of the same soul, if they continued to occupy the same time, they will eventually occupy the same space too, fusing into one being, at that point the stronger willed incarnate will take over the body,"

"So if we don't finish the fight sooner, live Madara, no Sasuke? That's, that's exceedingly bad," He remarked, 

"However there is also something much worse brewing on the horizon, if Madara is not stopped soon, the chakra of the Ten Tails will overtake him and my mother, Kaguya Otutsuki will be reborn," Naruto rubbed his chin, "She is the Mother of all Chakra, her revival will lead to the dooming of your planet,"

"Well, what do we do then?"

* * *

Meanwhile the rest of the group were trying to hold of a vastly overpowering Madara Uchiha. It wasn't going well. None of them could land a blow, not even coming close. Guy and Lee were up to the sixth inner gate and they were still not quite enough. "Gate of Wonder Open!" Guy's aura exploded further, as he became even stronger. "NO! Izuku!" Sakura appeared by the small squad with Tsunade in tow. "His body! It's just, it's just,"

"He's body disappeared, we don't know where, when or how but," She looked down, "Now we can't even give him a decent burial," Madara began laughing 

"You think you will survive long enough to do that?" Lee joined Guy at the Seventh gate, both of them had compound fractures, their muscle fibres were going to be snapping with any move they made as the sweat on their bodies immediately evaporated, shifting their green aura blue. Niether gelt a hand on their back but they could see Tsunade out of the corners of their vision.

"I reset your fractures and muscle damage, it's not much but it'll keep you alive," Both nodded, their pupils invisible. They shared a look and charged forwards, tearing the ground up behind them. A small sonic boom as they closed the distance.

"Double Daytime Tiger!" Two white tigers appeared from both men's bodies, roaring and going to strike Madara. Unable to avoid both massive changes of pressure he was carried back, far back by the blows. Earth ground up as he was carved deeper into it before eventually coming to a stop. Everyone shared a look of shock as he laughed again, getting to his feet. 

"Is that really all you have?" Both of their Gate auras dropped,

"Lee, leave this one to me," The group landed around them, probably ready to plan, "It is the end of Konoha's blue beast, it is time for the red beast to emerge,"

"Guy, no! You can't," Kakashi began, reaching out to him,

"Guy, think about this," Minato reasoned, "We don't,"

"it is fine, this will weaken him for long enough, for you to win," Guy began running forwards, despite the yells of arguements, "Eighth Gate of Death, open!" A red aura erupted around him, at least it appeared to be an aura, in was actually Guy's blood evaporating directly from his blood stream as his heart pumped at the maximum speed. The boys had earlier proved Taijutsu was highly effective against the Jinchuuriki, so this was only the next logical step. He was Guy Might, one of the best Taijutsu masters in the world over, Uzumaki Izuku had been one of his students, right next to Lee. The greenette had constantly declared him the strongest everytime they fought, to be called as such was Guy's dream. The best part was that when Izuku said it, he knew it was true, for the boy had travelled the land, fought everyone and learned from them after, if there had been anyone stronger that Guy, he would've told the shinobi where his next opponent stood. Now that student was dead, and the man responsible laughing in front of him. Guy grit his teeth, letting out the steam from his lungs. "Evening Elephant!" He puched the air, sending a compressed tube straight into Madara, the laughing man was quickly silenced as he was trapped in the pipe of pure wind. Guy kicked off the air and moved positions, "Second step!" Another cylinder of compressed air, "Third step!" Once again seeming to move off the air itself he leapt away to make a third pipe, "Fourth step!" Madara was bombarded from four side now as Guy moved above him "Fifth step!" The compressed air struck the already damaged Madara, forcing him straight into the ground with a massive explosion of dust and smoke. Massive chunks of earth were sent flying. Guy landed near to one, using it to support himself as he panted tiredly. 

"Can you still dance? I want you to play with me more!" Madara laughed. "It's not often one gets to fight a user of the Eight Inner Gates,"

"It, wasn't enough?" There was one last moved Guy had, one that nobody would have ever seen. It would have to be enough, it would be his,

"You do not have my permission to die," A voice spoke calmly as a hand touched his back, it didn't cause any pain however as Guy tried looking over his shoulder, "I have just healed your damage and given you some Nature Energy, it's slowly turning you to stone, starting with your bones," He understood, "I can only give you sixty seconds, use it wisely," His teeth were grit as he planted one foot forwards and dug his hands into the dirt. 

"Charge!" The aura around him exploded in size, launching more debris, it began forming the shape of a beastial dragon.

"I, Madara, declare you the-,"

"As if I can about the ravings of a lunatic! My student was a hundred times the man you could ever be!" Guy interrupted, the dragon around him roaring, "Flow!" He charged forwards, at inhumane speeds. It was a sight to behold as he closed in on Madara with no effort. No-one realized it as he leapt to strike, but Guy had moved so fast the space around him had become distorted, preventing Madara from avoiding the blow. "NIGHT GUY!!" The dragon's maw engulfed Madara as Guy's foot colldied with his ribs. Madara's bones broke.

Guy's did not.

The red dragon get racing forwards, at this point the ground was more damaged than not, the dragon just increasing the difference as it broke up rubble and earth alike. Eventually it collided with the God Tree, leaving a monumental scar on the earth. At one end lay Guy's body, smoking softly yet his chest rising and falling, declaring him still alive. Madara was the other end, his body half destroyed as he looked on. "You bastard, you almost killed me," His body began to regrow, "Your flame is about to better out, but I think to show my gratitude for such a great time, I'll finish you off before you turn to ash on your own!" A single black ball was launched at the body, ready to strike, until.

_Ting_

_Boom_

It landed next to Madara as a familiar body stood to protect Guy.

* * *

Naruto crouched next to Guy, a hand on his smouldering chest. "Busher brow sensei," Markings appeared on Guy's chest as he used his newest ability to attempt to undo the effects done by the Eighth Gate. He didn't know what he'd missed talking to Hagoromo, but Izuku's body had disappeared, Sakura had tried keeping the heart beating before it straight up vanished. Sasuke had been healed bu Tsunade and woken up the same time he did. He'd gone to find Lord Second and First who had yet to rejoin them, so were probably stuck somewhere, Naruto saw in the distance a massive Rasen-shuriken beind made by a Shadow Clone, the blue core quickly became molten as it worked with Roshi to create a Sage Art strong enough to cut down the tree. It had been Kurama's idea, the blond would admit, he didn't have the situational awareness to think of the plan. A white blob formed from the cracked earth.

"Sorry I'm late Lord Madara," A Zetsu mumbled,

"Do you have it?" In response the humanoid lifted a hand, the arm was sliced off and caught. Madara used the hand to implant whatever was in the hand int his right eye. Naruto suppressed his growl as he realized it was the other Rinnegan. Judging from the closed left eye he didn't _have_ an eye there. Naruto charged forwards, "Shit," A Madara tried to use an orb to make a weapon or defence, he was there punching him in the chest. The God Tree shook as the larger crater from Night Guy gained a smaller one in the centre from Naruto. Madara leapt away, the blond jumped after him. The tree began to glow beside them, as Naruto sensed something going for his side. Instinctively dodging he saw the shock on Madara's face before summoning a Shadow Clone and pushing off it. The clone dispelled as the Lava Rasen-Shuriken cleaved through the trunk of the tree, catching Madara in its whirling blades. He landed on the floor next to guy, lifting the body onto his back. Closing his eyes he felt the signatures of the group and leapt towards them. 

"You severed the tree," He landed next to the others.

"Guy sensei!" Rock Lee ran over,

"He'll live, is everyone else alright?"

"Yeah, we," Ino frowned "We can't find Izuku, we can't even sense his body,"

"You won't, his primal chakra will blend to well with the Nature Energy now he's not regulating it," Obito was being supported by Kakashi, "I am sorry Naruto,"

"It," He looked at the weak man, who was barely able to look at anyone, "It is alright, you did not mean to revive Madara, he simply stole the chakra you were planning to use," Sasuke landed next to him, "The God Tree is falling,"

"The God Tree is disappearing," Shisui calmly pointed out, they watched it disappear into the smoke left from the Rasen-Shuriken.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Itachi groaned in a very non-Itachi manner. They saw Madara make a break for them when.

"Kamui!" Kakashi sent Obito into the Time-space jutsu before Madara could take the Rinnegan from the weakened man.

"Hm? Attempting to keep my own eye away from me?" The target changed and everyone began guarding Kakashi.

"One of you has to go to Kamui and destroy that Rinnegan!" Kakashi yelled,

"And then let him butcher everyone else? Not happening!" Naruto argued as the group were suddenly knocked back by invisible forces. "Shit, Sasuke?!"

"It's a sort of shadow, like another Madara we can't see or effect without Sage chakra," Naruto closed his eyes and drew his weapons, "I can see them and I'm willing to bet,"

"I can sense them,"

"Maybe I'll just take your Rinnegan instead Sasuke," Madara mused "It would be a perfect fit!" His outstretched hand was knocked away by a jump kick from Shisui.

"Not happening lunatic," He barked, his tanto flashing to strike Madara. The Jinchuuriki retreated a further distance as everyone stood between him and Sasuke and Kakashi.

"You do not get near my family, ever again you bastard," Naruto growled, The man just sneered and held up a hand. A black orb pulled in the light around it before he rose into the sky.

"Then perhaps a brief distraction," The black orb spat out smaller black chunks, "Catastrophic, Planetary Devastaion!" Meteorites began forming around the orbs high in the sky, ready to plummet into the battle field. Naruto held up a hand, a Tailed Beast Bomb formed in the centre of a Wind Shuriken, than a second, and a third, until Naruto helpd up twelve Tailed Beast Shurikens in his hand. 

"Jinchuuriki squad, a Beast Bomb each if you can, Susano'os on the rest, Sakura, Tsunade, Ino, hit and run tactics, do not let him near anyone, Katsuki you take out the rest of the meteors, mobilize," Everyone leapt away, they couldn't let the small moons land, otherwise it'd mean certain death for the world. "Kakashi, stick with a Susano'o," Naruto leapt up as he threw the jutsus, watching them collide and destroy several of the deadly chunks.

"Dammit!" He looked back to see Itachi's Susano'o destroyed by Madara as the insane Jinchuuriki charged forwards.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Turning back around he teleported to the man, but too late. The grey haired ANBU clutched his bleeding eye. "Itachi, keep those things off the ground! I'll take care of him," Placing his right hand on the man's face he focused the chakra into the wound. "Kakashi, please try opening your eye," As the blond stepped backwards, his former captain opened his eyelid. A regular eye stared back at him in shock.

"You-, how?"

"I met the Sage of Six Paths, he gave me some powerful Sage chakra, I wasn't sure if it would work, which is why I said try to, because it might've just healed your eye shut instead,"

"Ahead of us," Madara reappeared from a swirl with an unconscious Obito controlled by something black sitting on one half of his body.

"Obito!"

"Obito is gone, I have taken over his body now," The black parasite spoke without moving Obito's mouth. Naruto noticed that his left eye was now a _Sharingan_ while Madara held both Rinnegan. Over head the Susano' kept destroying more of the meteorites. Madara began floating upwards while smiling a vile, sinsister smile. Nobody noticed the boyd appear behind Obito, pulling the black parasite off of him and catching the falling body.

"You did your best Obito, you can rest for now, the world will need you when you wake up," They were gone the moment he was laid down.

"Everyone back on me!" Sasuke yelled as he landed, Itachi and Shisui were able to get back into the Susano'o before they heard.

"Infinite Tsykuyomi!" The light outside of the avatar changed.

"Katsuki!" Naruto yelled, charging out, Sasuke grabbed his shoulder,

"it's too late, you go out there and you'll get caught in the genjutsu too," Katsuki stumbled into the construct,

"Fucking, gah, bastard nearly got him," He patted down the small fires on his sleeve.

"H-how?"

"I'm guessing Primal Chakra again," Shisui pouted "Man that is such,"

"Actually, it's because I'm not from this world, I mean, yeah Primal Chakra is a factor," Katsuki shrugged "But it's mainly because I'm not from this world, I may abide by some of the rules, like gravity and time but I'm not bound to the rest like you guys, genjutsus don't work on me if I don't let them, mind you I have to concentrate on not letting them get me," A sigh of relief,

"Phew, that means we have that much more power to fight Madara," The light began to fade as the moon waned. The Susano'o faded as Madara landed beyond them, next to Obito's laying body. Naruto raised an eyebrow, where had the black parasite gone?

"You are the only few left," He stood up, "Once I have dealt with you, my plan to end the Karmic cycle will be complete!" His arms raised as he spoke of his illusionary grandeur. "I am the saviour of this,"

"You are a raving lunatic who is just deceiving people," Sasuke growled, "Look at what you have done,"

"I have ended the long hitsory of fighting amongst ninja,"

"You have ended killing, by killing everyone," He spat, "A heroic deed if there ever was one, Naruto, teleport them away," A nod and the blond sent everyone back to the house in Konoha.

They looked around the area, as a pair of hands covered Kakashi's eyes. "Honestly," Nobody moved "He always leaves things half done, didn't even send Obito with you, jeez," Everyone stared in shock at the speaker, "Well, I suppose I'll just have to bring him with us when we come home," The figure was gone, leaving so fast not even a speck of dust was disturbed. They all gazed to Kakashi's eyes, in both rested a _Mangekyou Sharingan_. 

"You fought with all you had," Madara spoke gently, "Yet it wasn't enough," Sasuke and Naruto readied to fight again. "You should know by now, it's all over," A black hand pierced Madara's chest, through his heart.

"You are wrong Madara," The gravely voice of the black parasite spoke from behind the Jinchurriki, "You are not the saviour and things are far from over," The two boys looked at the scene, there was no way they were having a disagreement at this stage. "You see dear Madara, you too were living in a dream, a phantom I created,"

"How? I created you,"

"Wrong again Madara, my will is Kaguya's!" Naruto and Sasuke looked to each other in a panic, Kaguya? That was exactly what Six Path's Sage had warned them about. This was not shaping up to be good. Black began spreading from Madara's wound as he yelled in pain. 

"This chakra is ridiculous!" The sheer power threatened to overwhelm his sensing as it continued to grow. They both drew a chakra enhanced blade and charged what remained of Madara. His body had begun bulging in a similar way to Obito's had. The two were seemingly having an argument as Madara was consumed. Both boys were closing in, until white hair fired away from the mass and captured them. They grunted as they tried to fight and escaped the grip. The thing continued to bulge. Naruto watched in abject horror, until a

**Thump, Thum**

A singular hearbeat and the growth stopped, the black mass began shrinking. A horn grew either side of the hair parting as a head took shape underneath it. The first eye on the forehead opened up revealing a nine-tomoe _Rinne-Sharingan_ the rest of the body began to take form. Dressed in a regal hime-kimono with tomoe running down the centre and around the ends of the sleeves, the edges were highlighted with gold and purple lines. Fear overtook Naruto as he realized that they now faced.

"Kaguya Otsutsuki," No, that voice, it couldn't. "If you don't mind, please let go of those boys,"

"And who, are you?" Even her voice was regal to a fault, her eyes looking on as if talking to a worm.

"Me? I have gone by many names, the Green Death, the Forest Burner, the Emerald Shinigami, Kage, but you," Both boys turned their heads in disbelief, "You may call me Uzumaki Izuku Twilight Style user!"

* * *

"You called me Nozomi?" Enri frowned as she walked into the office, "I hope it was worth it, I have had to leave my wife with my son in a fragile state at the moment,"

"I apoligize Enri, I, this could not wait," The flaming heroine paused, Nozomi never faltered. Not even facing the most ddeliquent of children," The principal of UA always, always knew what to say. "I, Shoto will be recieving more aid from us from now on,"

"Why? Why should I trust a thing you say to me right now? How do I know you will not do anything to him?"

"Paranoia is a good trait Enri, but she means well," Kage stepped out from the shadows, befitting considering his chosen name. "After all she has realized her own hypocrisy at the very least,"

"You said you didn't,"

"I said I didn't _work_ with Endeavor, I never said I hadn't spoken with Enri Todoroki," Did, did this guy just cut Nozomi off? Did that really just happen? She wasn't dreaming right? This guy had the spine to cut off the principal of UA?! "If you haven't guessed by now Chimera, my work goes hand in hand with lying, but to truly lie, you tell the truth, in a different way," He made himself comfortable on one of the chairs, "Do not fear Enri, I have a close associate with your wife and Shoto now, they do not realise but," A shrug, "This is how it is in my line of work," Great so a copy of Kage was watching over them, that was a relaxing thought.

"And what exactly is your work Kage?" Nozomi asked coolly,

"Shinobi work," Hands protruded from his cloak spinning a kunai against his fingtip, "Y'know, being in shadows, stealthy takedowns, information collection," A pregnant pause "Murder without a trace, please Enri, sit," The kunai was waved around lazily and Enri decided to sit. "Now, I'm not going to say I'm always watching you but, I know where you are and what you are doing whenever I want to,"

"Intimidation doesn't work on me Kage,"

"Apaprently it does," Overwhelming power filled the room, cracks spread from below Kage's chair to the walls, Enri fought the urge to be sick. "Like I was saying," She could see Nozomi had frozen. That was impossible, "You have no reason to fear me, so long as you do not attempt to appease or upset me," He spun in the seat, his legs hanging over one arm as he leant on the other, "You'll find I'm outrageously indifferent to most things, one thing I do not accept however, is the treatment of my fellow men, many have come to you for help, yet you turn them away for fear UA would lose something, something like what? With the graduates all helping support the school I'd daresay you don't really need government funding anymore, not to mention the public, they know UA does things differently, a male course just to for helping the economy? That sounds pretty believable for bullshit doesn't it? Everyone would lap that up, a successful free man? You'd have women clamouring at the doors," Enri couldn't fault him, Kage's logic was pretty sound. A little bit of a web to weave but the world wouldn't bat an eye at implications, taking it for the word and milking the advantages for all it had. "I know you Nozomi, you are a lab expirement set free, hence the scarring, you don't know me and I doubt you ever truly will know me, but I am Kage, a _boy_ who found his own freedom, you just can't see all of my scars so easily," Once again Enri found herself uneasy talking to this young man, "I am quickly approaching the battle that will end in my death, so I'd advise you get to work before my partner comes here and finds himself very displeased, because he is not as patient nor as forgiving as I am," He should not be talking so calmly about his own death. "I have spoken with a Shinigami before, he has hounded me for years ever since, the moment my soul is free, it is his," No, this man, this _child_. 

"Who did it to you? Who hurt you?" Kage laughed gently,

"If I tell you now, nothing will come of it, there will be no evidence, no time for argument or proving it, there is little to no point in telling you who I am anymore," To talk so cynically, this boy was harbouring more than anyone should in a lifetime. "So I will leave it all to you, if you wish to try and find out my heritage you are welcome to do so, but I suspect you will not find many leads, my birth, life and death were all covered up quite effectively,"

"On the other hand," Nozomi turned on a screen, "I have been doing a lot of information digging since I last met you, you see I love puzzles and you have set up quite the intracate one, well, whoever was trying to keep you hidden from the world, Hiashi Midoriya, does that name ring a bell?"

"Midoriya? Yes, whoever she is her brat has been galavanting around the city with a Katsumi Bakugo, attacking the homeless for no reason, I've spent many, many hours taking them to medic shelters or Recovery Girl herself, is she trying to go after me?"

"Not in the slightest, Hiashi Midoriya is a false name, a secret identity if you will,"

"Your point?" The large screen flickered behind Nezu,

"I found out that you had been caught at one point and a Naohana Tsukauchi interviewed you, or attempted to," It briefly showed Kage sat in a chair with handcuffs around his wrists. No audio played as the video continued, nobody could focus quite on his face. "I find these points interesting," The screen changed

"So far I have, my Young Miss, my Cuddle Bug and my Radio Head," It changed again, this time he effortlessly took down six officers with one dropping to the floor the moment she looked into his eyes. "She will be up in five minutes," The last officer was frozen as he held two batons to her, "Congratulations, when're they due?" Nezu coughed as he disappeared in a green flash before reappearing, handing something to this, Naohana person, and disappearing in the same manner.

"You took down six officers, you have at least three contacts who's minds you have most likely erased, you managed to defy Naohana's lie detector quirk, which has never failed before, knock an officer down by looking into her eyes and accurately deduce another was pregnant, how?"

"Training, they won't remember a thing, don't go after them, training again, trade secret and there was a second heartbeat from the woman," Kage answered bluntly, his hand flicked again and Enri caught a cookie spinning to her head, "Good reflexes," He bit into his own, "Is there a point to this Nozomi?"

"Not really, it's just that Naohana has decided to aid me in my little quest," Kage cooed mockingly,

"Aww, is the widdle girlie going on a qwest?" His snarl was visible, "You will not intimidate me by outing my identity, hell you'd probably make an enemy of the people that tried hiding me away," Enri quietly ate her cookie, respecting the boy more and more. "Let me make things as clear as I can chimera," He was out of his chair and on the desk in seconds, "I didn't visit you to challenge you about finding out my identity, I paid you a visit to remind you of your roots and how you owe it to your past self and the you that suffered to help those in a position like your used to be trapped in," She swore that any more venom in his voice would start having a physical effect on Nozomi, "I can't help because I am going to die shortly, anything I do now would be in vain, so I'm leaving it to those I believe capable of making an impact, one has already disappointed me, do not be the second,"

"I will find out who you are Kage, if only to satiate my own curiousity, I hadn't met someone who could actually kill me before you, so I am curious as to who you are and just where you learned your trade secrets, but know that regardless of my personal quiery I _am_ working to clean up the mess I previously partook in, you made it clear in our last meeting, I _should_ help the men that come to me for it, because I was in a position where people would cast me aside if I asked for help, you are right, I do owe it to who I once was to be better than those that didn't help me, so I will be repenting for my mistakes, I can only hope it is enough," Enri blinked and Kage as already walking towards the window.

"You are trying Nozomi, that alone proves where you stand now," He was gone in smoke and leaves.


	30. Light, Dark, Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The is always a middle ground.
> 
> "We are't using that jutsu,"  
> "You don't know, it might work,"
> 
> "You didn't think I'd let you take the easy way did you?"

The trio stood opposite Kaguya, Izuku quickly freeing both of them from the white hair snares. "Look rabbit princess, I would appreciate if we could keep this quick, so just surrender, pretty pretty please," Yup, that was definitely Izuku, "I met Hamura and Hagoromo earlier, you're such a mother hen, not wanting your boys to leave the nest,"

"I can see the reincarnates of my sons and my grandsons in them, the question is, who's reincarnate are you?"

"Me? I'm nobody's reincarnate, I'm just a free man with a lot of power," The woman was suddenly flung back by some invisible force. Naruto recognized the move, that was Almighty push, who.

"Izuku, did you get a Rinnegan?" Sasuke mumbled, Izuku's eyes still burned a dark green.

"No that's Sasuke's, Hagoromo told me the abilities he'd shared with you two, get ready to use those Truth-Seeking orbs," Naruto paused, "The black things dude,"

"Oh! Alright,"

"They're made of all five basic natures, meaning theyr'e better than any kekkei genkai I have in store," Izuku smirked, "You almost had one up on me there bro," He became dark green again, his haori flowing behind him, around his back just like Naruto, floated five Truth-Seeking orbs, "I've also put some Yin-Yang release into mine, so they should nullify any ninjutsu she throws at us, hopefully,"

"Hopefully?"

"Well we are fighting the _mother of all chakra_ so forgive me if I want to tkae everything with a pinch of salt," Sasuke and Naruto just stared at him in shock, "What? You weren't the only ones to get something from Six Path's Sage," The trio readied to battle as they heard Kaguya get back up. "Just like old times,"

"Yeah, because we so battled a God when we were kids," Sasuke retorted,

"Well, just think we're sparring against Itachi again," Naruto shrugged as he pulled out a fresh lot of kunai.

"By the way, I'm not entirely sure but I think the Truth-Seeking orbs can act as Raijin markers," He grinned, that was helpful. As Kaguya approached them, she began talking.

"This place, this land, its is my precious nursery," She floated over the rubble, gazing at them, "I will not allow you to damage it anymore, we shall stop fighting,"

"Obito!" Izuku turned around as Naruto felt the air change, in a blink they were suddenly in a cavernous area with flowing lava surrounding them. Sasuke and he began falling as they looked around. A Truth-Seeking orb fell under Sasuke and flattened out into a platform.

"I will erase you _here_ ," Kaguya floated in the air above them.

"Naruto you can levitate!" Izuku yelled, the blond blinked in surprise and thought about not falling into the lave. Sure enough his body stopped moving metres above the molten liquid. He quickly rose back up to Sasuke's level as Izuku appeared, two Truth-Seeking orbs down. Behind them sat a black orb. "Obito got dragged with us, I'm keeping him safe in there while we're in this dimension,"

"Dimension?"

"Well, what else do use expect? We're not exactly under the Earth's, wait a minute, I'll be right back," The grenette took off towards the ceiling, a chakra avatar forming as he began tunneling through it. Obito's orb moved with it while Sasuke's platform began shrinking.

"Shit," Naruto quickly used one of his own orbs to make him a new platform, "Thanks,"

"No problem," They nodded to each other, "Now, how are we going to beat this one?"

"I'll be frank, we can't avoid being seperated, we need your Six Paths Power of Light style and my Six Paths Power of Shadow Style, in order to perform _that_ jutsu," Izuku was between them again.

"Alright, so it's definitely a different time-space, I went so far up that unless we're in a mountain, we're not on Earth, Sasuke, why aren't you using Susano'o yet?" The ravenette stared.

"Oh yeah, it flies," The purple construct began surrounding the boy as they faced down Kaguya.

"Once more," She spoke calmly leaning forwards to fly at them, "I shall unify all chakra!" An incredible deam fired ahead of her and all three boys moved out of the way. Naruto pulled his Truth-Seeker orb back to make a baton. Sasuke fired off an arrow with his Susano'o while Izuku just moved over the projectile, watching the battle. 

"By me time, lots of it!" He barked, Naruto nodded as he watched Sasuke swap places with his Susano'o arrow, a new power from his Rinnegan. Flying at incredible speeds, Naruto joined the ravenette, they closed in and began trying to strike the woman. She moved between each strike, Naruto smirked, she may have the _Rinne-Sharingan_ but she didn't have Obito's _Mangekyou Sharingan_ meaning that they could hit her. The prime example how he feinted a punch befor burying his foot into her gut. Sasuke added onto it, spinning to kick her head as she doubled over.

"Naruto!" A hand grabbed his other leg and he kicked up, giving Sasuke more air time. His brother kicked out, using the woman as a spring board before launching to the ceiling. Pushing himself down his Susano'o formed around him and held two blades. Her form glowed blue as Naruto quickly retreated. Sasuke's Susano'o hit and there was a blinding flash. "Gah!" He was launched backwards, caught by the blond. "It's not working, we're going to need a distraction,"

"Well, we could try,"

"We aren't using that jutsu,"

"You don't know, it might work," Sasuke just sighed,

"Fine, give the opening and I'll get my left eye ready," Naruto charged forwards, "Amaterasu!" Kaguya seemed uneffected by the black fire as it quickly shrunk away. A couple Shadow Clones appeared around Kaguya before they all transformed.

"Sexy jutsu: Reverse Harem jutsu," Izuku's disappointment radiated on the back of his neck as Kaguya's eyes widened slightly. As the illusion leant in it began disappearing, letting hiim give Kaguya a powerful left hook.

"THAT FUCKING WORKED?!" The greenette's shock was tangible.

"Naruto," The blond turned to face Sasuke, charging forwards with his right hand outstretched. The other his left as Kaguya suddenly teleported in between them. They were inches away from striking her when.

**Shtclink**

'Ice?' Neither boy could move as they were encased in ice. Looking around with their limited movement showed they were now in a frozen tundra. Izuku and the orb protecting Obito were nearby also trapped. Black flames suddenly sprouted in front of Sasuke before they began slicing up the ice. Kaguya had moved through a black opening that had seemingly unfolded from next to her head. She appeared next to the chunk of ice but quickly retreated as it exploded. "Alright, we're going with my idea now," Sasuke grumbled, they got ready to fight as a hole opened up and Kaguya reached into it. He gasped as the hand grabbed holf of the back of his shirt, pulling him into the Time-Space. Naruto reached for him but wasn't fast enough as a green blur sped into the hole. Izuku flew over, the orb behind him.

"Alright, first things first, get Sasuke back, I just need one more look at her Time-Space jutsu," He grumbled, "Can I leave it to you?"

"Always bro, I got this," The glowing blond leapt at Kaguya, who promptly vanished into another hole. 

"Kekkeigenkai Nusumu!" Izuku's voice echoed before he grunted, "Shit, that's more than I thought it'd cost, keep her busy Naruto!" His brother was gone before he could look to the voice. He faced down Kaguya and put his hands together.

"Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!" The orbs behid his back spread out and began dividing into smaller balls. He grinned as the clones all began their own attack patterns, with a little focus he was able to hid his signature, waiting for the others to return.

It took almost a quarter of his clones until Izuku arrived with Sasuke in tow. An awake Obito now held onto Izuku as they looked around. A green cloak was put around Obito's shoulders as Izuku put another one on. Naruto felt an eyebrow twitch as he looked on, how many of those bloody things did he have?! As he joined the trio they looked over to Kaguya, who frowned and spread out her arms. They were moved to another Time-Space, as his clones suddenly began falling to the ground. Everyone was overcome with incredible weight. "Not this shit again," Izuku grumbled, reaching for his abdomen. The blond took some relief in seeing Kaguya was affected by the gravity too, until her hands rose and she fired off two bone like rods. As Sasuke and he managed to clamber out of the way they heard Izuku's _Sharingan_ go off.

"Now that I've adjusted, I won't miss again," Kaguya sneered as more bones fired off.

"I won't, let you," Obito got up slowly and Naruto's eyes widened. The world slowed down as the white haired man managed to move past both boys, shielding them with his body. He watched in abject horrot as the rods closed in.

"Jeez," Izuku's voice cut in smoothly, "You didn't think I'd let you take the easy way did you Obito?" They looked past the man to see Izuku had caught both rods, "Boys, I've done what I needed, get me an opening," Both boys nodded before they were suddenly in a new Time-Space. "Wonderful, even better, Obito, you're our ticket out of this one, get ready with Kamui,"

"W-what?" Naruto and Sasuke raced forwards together, this time without additional gravity weighing them down, Izuku began moving behind them, sticking incredibly close. His fist was caught and Sasuke's kick blocked.

"Six Paths Style: Chakra Separation jutsu!" A chakra blade aroud his hand sliced into Kaguya's shoulder, cutting the arm clean off. The greenette caught the fabric and pulled the sleeve with him. "Now you Black Zetsu," Naruto watched in surprise as he conversed with the shadow inside Kaguya's sleeve. "Can die now," A white flame engulfed the sleeve and they heard a cry of anguish before nothing remained. "Shouldn't of been such a mama's boy," Kaguya quickly rose up into the air, wailing loudly. The area began to shake as an amorphous blob began to move out of Kaguya's wound. It pulled away until there were two seperate entities. "Boys, that's your target!" Sasuke and Naruto both leapt towards the blob as it took the form of the second stage Ten Tails, each tail began taking the form of a different Beast with the tenth appearing like a rabbit. They planted a hand each on the beast.

"Six Paths, Planetary Devastation!" The heads of each beast quickly broke off and turned into pure chakra. Each quickly found their way over to Naruto, absorbing into his gut and disappearing. As he levitated he saw Sasuke falling towards nothingness, reaching for the ravenette his mouth opened in silent horror. A sky blue blur and Sasuke wasn't in sight. Naruto was suddenly grabbed by a large hand of the same colour and found himself gazing at Obito's Susano'o. They quickly found Izuku as the world began to destabilize. The rabbit head left spat something out towards them, it collided with Izuku midair and sent him tumbling away. "Izuku!" The greenette was nowhere to be seen.

"I was hoping I didn't have to use Raijin here," He was behind Sasuke, Madara's unconscious form over his shoulders, "I was worried the laws would work differently and I'd get hurt somehow," They quickly retreated from the area and looked towards the planetary body Sasuke and Naruto had made. "Took you long enough to call it,"

"Hey, I've only had one _Sharingan_ for most my life, cut me some slack," Obito complained as he sweatdropped, "More importantly how are wer going to get home?"

"That's right?! What are we going to-,"

"Sweet Kami, Obito I said you're our ticket out of here didn't I? Ah never mind, kinda thought you'd realize Kamui was a good nexus point,"

"What?" All three blanched at his calm demeanour 

"You used Kamui to move all over the world, just go back to Konoha," A gentle shrug, "Besides, it's not like we don't have time, so long as the Ten Tails exists the dimension remains stable,"

"You mean, we've locked it in a prison of its own making?" Sasuke looked back to the mass of rock. "Wait, we trapped it in a prison of its own making?!"

"That's the danger with being the only one able to access a Time-Space," Obito supplimented as Izuku nodded "If Madara had destroyed my _Sharingan_ instead of implanting it into me, he could've left me trapped in Kamui," They were sucked into the vortex as the Susano-o faded. As they touched down on grey a grey surface Naruto looked around Kamui space. It was a mess of grey blocks, reaching different heights and blackness as far as the eye could see. His glimpse was ended as they were sent through another vortex and found themselves stood by the remains of the God Tree. Immediately Izuku disappeared as Obito faced Sasuke and Naruto.

"I take it you know how to undo the Tsukuyomi?" He smiled sadly as they began walking over to the edge of the stump. Both boys nodded, "Once it comes undone, I'll probably be executed,"

"I wouldn't be to sure of that," Sasuke cut in, "As the shinobi that saved the world, we'll have a lot of sway in how things get recorded and told to the public," The last Uchiha's eyes widened, "I mean, Madara's genjutsu are pretty powerful, not to mention the Black Zetsu was a parasite that took control of its host," As he started to argue Naruto jumped in.

"You broke free of the control just before Madara stole the chakra of the Ten Tails, which resulted in you trying to save Izuku, then us," He grinned as Sasuke put a hand out, "Plus you helped us get home after we defeated Kaguya!" Together Sasuke and Naruto weaved a sign, the branches slowly began wilting as people were released. The sun began rising as they heard voices behind them.

"Naruto!"/ "Sasuke!"/ "Boys!" Kushina was first as both turned around, getting hugged by the redhead. "I was so worried, Izuku appeared as the moon went red, he told me things had gone badly," They both tapped her back as she squeezed tightly. "I'm so, so proud of you three," She muttered "But don't you ever do anything that scary again," As she leant away and smacked them both around the head, "I almost had a heart attack when Izuku told me you'd gone to another dimension!"

"Ow, sorry ma!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "We didn't expect to be dragged through Time-Space, which reminds me, Izuku, how did you find Sasuke? Kaguya seperated us," Everuone just looked over at the greenette, who had silently walked over to Madara's still body, kneeling next to it with Hashirama. Both older men were listening to him intently, Hashirama nodding as Madara just listened silently. They both began fading away as Madara gave a faint smile that signified he had finally found peace. Once they had both completely disappeared, the greenette calmly stood up and joined them again.

"Sorry what?"

"How did you find Sasuke? You yelled something like kekkeigenkai nusumu and disappeared,"

"Yeah, I copied the Space-Time jutsu and leapt through the six Time-Space pockets," Six?! How many could they have gone through?! "I think there were only six because she didn't take us to any I hadn't gone through," Izuku shrugged, he did that a lot Naruto realized.

"Did you say you copied the Space-Time jutsu? By looking at it?" Sasuke seemed to focues on what was more important.

"I, yeah?" Everyone gave him a single look, "Oh, right I didn't tell you guys," His eyes morphed from the regular green but instead of going red, the iris went a milky white, his pinwheel was lilac with black concentric rings from his pupil. The whites of his eyed faded into lilac with the lines continuing out. "Hamura gave me these, called them Divine Eyes but I like Primal Eyes better," He grinned "I've upgraded my eyes, I know possess all three major dojutsu, I can see how any jutsu is performed, memorize it and copy it exactly,"

"So now all you need is the Shogun armour huh?" Tsunade joked as Izuku laughed,

"Yeah, guess you're right Aunty Tsunade," He gave Kushina a side hug "Guess you're right," His eyes faded to regular green before he straightened up in surprise, "Wait, mom, dad, you guys remember what day it is?" Minato nodded as he walked over to his blond son, putting a hand on his head reassuringly.

"Happy birthday, Naruto,"

* * *

"Naruto, could you pass the salt?"

"Did anyone grab the ketchup?"

"Which of these is the vegetarian again?"

"Oh for the love of! Who forgot the knives?" 

If the table was hectic before, it was truly chaos now. After the war had been over Obito had gone to the five Kage with Izuku, Naruto and Sasuke to plead his case. After they had recalled the BLack Zetsu's parasitic control over everyone and Madara's genjutsu being in play as well as Danzo's part in all the scheming, the last Uchiha had been given what amounted to a boatload of slack. Sure the guy would never get to become Hokage, he'd probably not have a lot of trust from anyone that didn't really know him. 

But he was alive, and he got to start making up for the wrongs he did. Since Danzo had been controlling Kurama at the time of the attack, he was put merely as an invader that fought the Hokage. Since Madara had collected the chakra from the Jinchuuriki, he was absolved from that. Once they had explained how Black Zetsu had controlled him during his time as puppet master of the Akatsuki with Danzo, they gave him lenience on that too. Now the man lived under the guard of Kakashi and Anko, a ward of the Uzumaki clan. He wasn't going on missions for several weeks as standard probation and he'd had the majority of his chakra sealed until then as further measures. But everyone would find Obito in relatively high spirits anyway. He was always found sat next to Kakashi at the table, one of the few veggies in the group. After a few meals he'd quickly melded quite well into the chatter, his days consisting of helping around the village as he took daily walks and training alongside Kakashi. Since both had the same _Sharingan_ they held the same access to Kamui and since they both suddenly an eye the other was proficient in, Izuku had insisted they trained together to master it. Tsunade had been uneasy around him at first, but after Minato and Kushina had begun talking easily to him, she had followed suit. "Say Izuku," The table went silent as he addressed the greenette, "You never did explain how you were able to use Six Paths Power on your own,"

"Oh that? They gave me both Shadow and Light style, it melded together into Twilight style, basically everything became infused with Yin-Yang release and it amped everything up," Izuku shrugged "Honestly it was pretty cool not having to focus on the release but eh, I'm just happy I can still do it," He put down his cutlery, "Actuall that reminds me, the chair opposite you, it's unoccupied right?" Before the Uchiha could respond Izuku had gotten up and walked away, Naruto smirked with everyone else, they almost knew what was coming next. Few of them actually knew for certain since they'd been dragged in to help. Only the newest additions to the table didn't know. That is to say, Minato, the other eight Jinchuuriki who occasionally joined in, Yagura seemed to have a knowing smile though, which only confirmed Naruto's suspicions. Rasa, who was visiting to celebrate the end of the war, leant over to Temari.

"He didn't do it again, did he?"

"Did what again?" Obito suddenly got very scared, "He didn't like, trap the chair or something did he? I mean, I know I probably earned it but,"

"Neh Obito," Kakashi and Obito both froze at the voice, Minato dropped his cutlery as Kushina held his hand, "You really screwed the pooch didn't you?" Three heads snapped over to the stairs to see a new figure.

"R-rin?"/ "Rin?!" Izuku grinned like a puppy and folded his arms proudly, "I-, how did," Obito got up, "You're _alive_?"

"Well, I am now," She smiled warmly.

"It took a lot of work this time," The greenette softened his posture, "I had Orochimaru to help, Isobu had a bit of her chakra left to help with the temporal displacement, yadda yadda, yadda yadda," A nonchalant hand wave.

"Why do I feel like you've done this before enough not care about how badly you fucked with the laws of nature?" Everyone at the table chuckled as Obito smirked, Rin just looked confused.

"Well, to be quite honest, I'm not of this world, the rules you guys follow are just suggestions to me, plus it helps Lord Second had left notes and jutsus for this,"

"But he only made the," Orochimaru interrupted,

"No, that was merely the first step, in notes he left behind, he speculated about how to give the soul a true form, Izuku and I worked for quite some time on the second step, eventually we were able to first revive Kushina due to the wealth of chakra she had sealed into Naruto acting as a soul, then we used Minato's reanimated body for a base to fully revive him, since it already contained his soul,"

"We did the same process to revive Rin, finally managed to get round to it today while you were training again," Izuku finished, "So, may I happily introduce, Rin Nohara, third member of the first team seven, team Minato,"

"Which will be reformed shortly after New Years, when Obito's probabtion is over,"

"By then the effects of the revival will have worn off, so Rin will be the same age as you two," Kushina nodded "She's taller than before because of the immediate effect, however it'll take maybe a month or so for her body to match her chakra's age, Minato is already suffering the same fate,"

"Don't remind me," The man in question slapped a hand over his forehead, trying to hid the already forming creases. 

"Oh, that reminds me," Tsunade spoke up again, "Obito, there's been a request submitted for you that needs urgent discussion,"

"Whatever it is, yes, I'll do whatever people need me to do, it's the only way I can truly ever make up for what I did,"

"So you agree to be a member of the Uzumaki branch family?" Shock flashed over the man's face as he looked towards Izuku and Naruto, who were both vibrating in giddiness. He sighed and smiled softly,

"Sheesh, you guys sure are the emotionally blackmailing type," He looked at Tsunade directly, "Of course, I'd be happy to," Everyone lifted their drinks, with a bellowing toast,

"Welcome to the family Obito Uzumaki!"

"Now let's eat!" The three sat back down as everyone began helping themselves to the buffet that had been prepared. "Izuku,"

"Yeah?"

"Why?" It was a simple question, one that Naruto felt he knew the answer to.

"Because why not? Obito went through a lot, after he watched the love of his life sacrifice herself for the village, he lost himself, his place in the world, Madara took that and twisted it into Tobi, the man we fought, after your words, Obito found himself again, he found his way back onto the beaten path and made a dead run down it, he thought he'd made it to the finish when he moved to save you and Sasuke, that's when he had truly redeemed himself in my eyes, preparing to save the one that not only had beaten him, not only faced him countless times, but had also stopped his own success, he was ready to die so that you could keep going, to me there is no greater redemption than trying to save the man that you had once tried to kill, for no other reason than because you were given the chance to," Izuku smiled softly "Honestly after everything Obito went through, after all that time in the darkness and being ready to die for a man he had, for a period of time, hated I thought that after all that, he deserved a happy ending, obviously he won't go down as a hero, but he won't go down as a villain either, he'll go down as a man who made mistakes, a man who fought for his happy ending, and Rin, she is his happy ending, so Naruto, why not?" Katsuki faux gagged next to him. "Besides, I wasn't going to let Kakashi lose him again," As Naruto looked down the table at all the smiling faces. The noise faded into the background, he could see the three Sannin all chatting happily, his mom and dad smiling together, he could see Itachi and Shizune holding hands gently across the table as Fu and Shisui not so subtly played footsie underneath it. He saw Obito and Rin chatting animatedly, dragging Kakashi in occasionally from his conversations with Anko, Hinata and Karin both talking to Gaara as his father briefed on the roles of Kazekage. Temari catching up with Kankuro about life in the different villages, Tayuya offering Sasuke lessons on the flute. The days of sitting at his coffee table in his rundown apartment were still there, they weren't ever going to go away. 

But that didn't mean they were long gone because now they were. Those were years and years ago, before the war, before Pain, before even his journey with Jiraiya.

Before Izuku.

Indeed, those days were always going to be a part of him, hurt always was. But this dining table, this house, this _family_. This was his present and his future.

And dammit that was enough for him.

* * *

"You've got everything packed right? Clothes, weapons, stuff to set up your forges and things?"

"Yes mom," Izuku nodded gently. The crowd to see the duo off was gigantic. Everyone that had ever sat at the dining table was there plus the other three Kage. "We'll be back on the holidays anyway so we aren't going away forever, plus we are only two Raijin away if you need us,"

"You'll shower everyday and eat healthy?"

"Yes," Katsuki nodded tiredly, only to be softly cuffed by their dad,

"You'll come get us if anything goes wrong right?"

"Of course," Izuku placates. "Doesn't matter if we can handle it, we'll come get you guys,"

"Katsuki will come first to make sure we bring popcorn," Obito jokes, Shisui and Kakashi laughing with him, Itachi giving a small hm of approval. The women of the group lightly scold them for being amused at the joke. Rin pouting and smacking Obito's shoulder gently. Already the kunoichi was catching up to them, standing at Obito's chin height appearing about twenty-two.

"You'll write home every week?"

"Every fortnight," Izuku bartered, "And we'll come get you for events," The redhead nodded before taking both boys into a hug.

"God I'm going to miss you two so much," They tapped a shoulder each,

"Mom, breathe," / "Uncle, uncle UNCLE!" She let them both go. The doorway was merely a fold in the trees, yet they could all feel the life on the other side. Katsuki looked towards it fornlornly. "I almost don't wanna leave," Izuku admitted, "But I know I have to face it at some point,"

"And we'd rather leave Konoha out of it," Katsuki finished, "But it's not like they can't help,"

"Indeed," Onoki smiled, "If ever you boys need it, you will have the full force of the Allied Shinobi Force behind you," Rasa and Gaara nodded in agreement, A simply smirked and folded his arms while Mei smiled warmly. Naruto walked over to his oldest brother and ensnared him in a hug.

"Remember, over there you're the head of the Uzumaki clan, got it?"

"No," Izuku chuckled, "No that's not it, I'll train everyone we meet and if we think they should be an Uzumaki, we'll bring them over to you for approval," Naruto grinned through his tears.

"Still let me think I'm the head honcho huh?"

"Buddy, you let me into the family, you _are_ the head honcho," Izuku raised an eyebrow, "Did you never realize? Everything I've been doing, it's been to thank you and give you, well, this?" A hand gestured to the group behind them. "You're the guy that gave me my first true family, I've been doing my best ever since to protect what you gave me," At this he pulled his brother into another tighter hug.

"Asshole makign me cry in front of everyone," He grumbled quietly. "You better kick ass and get back here so I can kick yours,"

"I'll think about letting you win one of these days," The greenette teased. "Alright, that's enough, we need to get moving before nightfall,"

"The house won't be the same without you,"

"It was never going to be," Katsuki revealed, "But that's not the point, just because we aren't at the dining table, doesn't mean we aren't family," He smirked "Although if you're offering a red carpet for when we return would be great,"

"Maybe we can visit you guys one day?"

"I mean, we'd have to rent out an entire building but I don't see why not," Izuku shrugged "Alright, we're off!" He declared proudly, the tears on his face getting launched as he leapt up. "We'll see you all soon!" The two disappeared into the passage way, their forms disappearing in the blink of an eye. Everyone shuffled for a minute before making their way back to the village. If there wasn't already there would be a not too subtle protection around the area. Izuku and Katsuki had protected this world with everything they had, now their world would be protected from anyone of this world trying to attack it. Naruto looked back at the doorway before it was lost amongst the rest of the trees. Anywhere Izuku and Katsuki went was some of the most protected places in existence. The only place that had more protection than whereevr they were, was Konohagakure.

Their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand scene  
> We are done with A Ninja's Hero up next A Hero's Ninja (Yeah I'm super creative with titles)  
> So now I give you guys the chance to be involved in the next story, since there's a lot of repeat jutsus used in Naruto, I want you guys to come up with a few for me to give Izuku, Katsuki and possibly the other boy(s) joining them on their escapade.  
> Thank you all for joining me on this journey and I hope to see you on the next one.  
> This is Phantom  
> Fading out.


End file.
